The Truth Is Out There
by karkovice
Summary: A corroborative story detailing a theory of the origins of the rainbow faced dinosaurs that appeared in the 7th movie: The Stone Of Cold Fire, and how the dinos can handle the truth.
1. Preface

**THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE**

**PREFACE**

The idea for this story was given to me by a friend and fellow Land Before Time fan I know as "The Chronicler". He always had this fan's theory that the rainbow faces who appeared in the 7th feature length movie "The Stone Of Cold Fire" were descendants of a long lost civilization of rainbow faces that lived on Earth many thousands of years before Little Foot's time; and that their civilization looked very much like ours; with buildings, cars, computers, TVs, and other technologically advanced things very much like what we have today.

He approached me after reading some of my earlier fanfics, saying my writing style would fit in perfectly with the theory he always imagined, and asked me to write a story about it.

Of course, I can't take all the credit for putting this story together. If he never would've supplied me with the idea he had, this story would never have come to life.

Most of the scenes in this story were his ideas, but the plot is my own creation.

I sincerely hope you enjoy reading this collaborative story, and that you find it just as exciting as my previous stories.


	2. Shiny Rock, Black Stick and White Eggs

**CHAPTER 1**

**SHINY FLAT ROCK, BLACK STICK AND WHITE EGGS**

The day dawned nice and warm in The Great Valley. There was not a white puffy to be seen in the sky!

Little Foot and his friends had all decided to start the day by playing a few games of Swimmer and Splasher. It was warm enough so that the running water would not be too cold for them.

They were all in a circle in the middle of the running water. Chomper had just submerged seconds before. He surfaced behind Ducky and touched her on the shoulder.

"Your turn, Ducky!" he said.

"It will not be my turn for long, oh, nonono!" she said just before going under. Chomper then moved in to take her place in the circle.

Little Foot noticed that she was under water longer than expected. He looked around, but didn't see her. "Where'd she go?" he asked.

Cera humpfed. "Maybe she found some strange new green food at the bottom of the running water!"

Spike, who was right next to Cera, simply smiled, shook his head and mumbled "unh unh!"

Then Ducky emerged from the water next to the shoreline and crawled up onto the land.

"Ducky, what are you doing!? The game's out here!" Little Foot called to her.

"I have just seen something very strange at the bottom of the fast water, then I had to take it up and bring it out. Come see!"

Everybody crawled out of the water to gather around Ducky. She opened her palm to show what looked to everybody like a round shiny yellow flat rock.

"What is it?" Little Foot asked as he examined it more closely.

"I do not know!" Ducky said as she shook her head.

"Humpf! Looks like a dumb ol' shiny flat rock to me!" Cera stated as she looked at it.

"No, Cera! I don't think this is an ordinary shiny flat rock." Little Foot said. "It's too perfectly round for it to be an ordinary rock! And look at what's on it!"

Everybody looked more closely at it. They could see an odd shape on it. It was quite faded, but four perfect lines connected to each other were still distinguishable.

"THAT doesn't look natural!" Little Foot stated.

"Little Foot right. That not natural!" Petrie echoed as he looked at the object more closely.

"Well, what else could it be?" Cera asked.

"I don't know, Cera."

Then Ducky flipped it over, and gasped as what she saw.

"Little Foot! Look at THIS!!" Ducky exclaimed as she lifted the shiny round rock to Little Foot's eyes.

Little Foot's eyes grew wide in surprise as he saw what Ducky saw.

"Everyone, take a look!" he coaxed to his friends. "Doesn't that look like one of the rainbow faces we encountered before?"

Petrie gasped. "You right, Little Foot! That DOES look like rainbow face!"

"Rainbow faces??? Who are they?" Chomper asked.

"Probably two of the WEIRDEST flattooths you'll ever meet!" Cera grumbled. "Always kept talking about what could be found 'Beyond The Mysterious Beyond'!"

"Beyond The Mysterious Beyond???" Chomper said in genuine puzzlement.

Little Foot nodded. "Almost as if it was important to them."

"But why would their head be on a shiny flat rock?" Ducky asked in equal puzzlement.

"That's a good question, Ducky!" Little Foot stated.

Indeed, on the other side of the shiny rock, they could clearly see the faded shape of a rainbow face's head, almost as if it was somebody important enough to have their image engraved on such a beautiful looking piece of round shiny rock.

"Hmmm..." Ruby suddenly pondered. "Now that I am remembering, I do remember hearing about finding such strange things in The Mysterious Beyond."

Everyone looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean, Ruby?" Little Foot asked.

"They were stories told by those who told stories!" Ruby continued. "Apparently, some strange things can be found in strange places hardly anyone would dare go into into The Mysterious Beyond."

After a few moments, Cera humpfed. "Well, I think it's just pure coincidence that this ordinary rock should have the shape of a rainbow face's head; and that those stories of strange things to be found in The Mysterious Beyond are just false rumours!"

Little Foot shook his head. "I don't think so, Cera! Those stories Ruby heard MUST'VE come from somewhere."

"In the meantime, Little Foot, what do we do with this?" Ducky asked as she showed the flat rock again.

"Let's go show it to grampa! He'd might know what it is."

With that, the whole gang set out to find Grandpa Longneck and show him what they found.

-------------------------------------------

"I'm sorry, Little Foot." Grandpa Longneck would say. "I have absolutely no idea what it is. What about you, Grandma?" he asked of his long time mate.

"I'm sorry, dear." she would say. "I'm afraid I don't."

Little Foot looked quite discouraged.

"Humpf!" Mr. Threehorn gumbled as he looked at the object still in Ducky's hand. "Looks like a dumb ol' shiny flat rock to me!"

"No, Mr. Threehorn!" Little Foot emphatically said. "It can't be a shiny flat rock! It's too perfect! Look how round it is!! And how to you explain the rainbow face head that's on it, or the thing with the straight lines that's on the other side!?"

"Coincidence!!" Mr. Threehorn said with finality.

Little Foot sighed in frustration.

"Now, Mr. Threehorn! Let's not jump to conclusions!" Grampa Longneck told him. "I must admit, though, that that shape of a rainbow face head and the other thing on the back of it; plus the fact that it is perfectly round; doesn't make it look natural at all."

"And the colour of it!" Petrie's mom voiced. "It's as though somebody took a piece of the bright circle and made a really small version of it!"

Grandpa Longneck nodded. "Yes, the bright yellow colour of it does make it even more unusual." Then he turned his attention to Ruby. "And you say you've heard stories of strange things that could be found in The Mysterious Beyond, young Ruby?"

"Yes, Mr. Longneck!" Ruby said. "When I was remembering, I remembered hearing stories about it from those who tell stories."

"Well, be that as it may, I don't want any of you adventuring out in the Mysterious Beyond in search of those strange things." Grandpa Longneck ordered. "Especially YOU, Little Foot! It's far too dangerous!" He told his grandson with finality.

Little Foot sighed in dissapointment. "Yes, grampa." he muttered in a soft voice.

---------------------------------------

A short time later, they were walking along the river, running and laughing as they were playing an improvised game of tag. All except for Little Foot, who was still saddened by his grandfather not giving him permission to go into The Mysterious Beyond in search of more of the strange things Ruby heard about.

"Come on, Little Foot!" Cera cried as she came beside him. "Get over it! Your grandfather doesn't want us going anywhere NEAR The Mysterious Beyond, and that's final! 'No' means 'no'!"

Little Foot sighed. "I know... It's just that-"

"HEY, EVERYONE! I found something!!" Chomper interrupted.

He had reached down into a sinkhole by the river, and was trying to grab hold of whatever it was he found.

"What'd'you find, Chomper?" Little Foot asked.

He saw that Chomper was trying to pull out some sort of black stick that was stuck in the ground. He was grunting and groaning as he exerted with all of his might to pull out whatever it was he found. He fell over backwards when the ground finally relinquished it's hold on it.

Everyone gathered around Chomper and marveled at what he found. It was mostly covered in mud and dirt; but despite that, everyone could see that it was black with a funny greyish bulge at the end of it.

"What... is THAT?" Cera asked in wide eyed surprise.

"I think it's a stick..." Chomper said as he looked it over. "But it's not like any stick I've ever seen before!"

"I do not think that is a stick, Chomper. Oh, nono... NO!"

"I think Ducky's right, Chomper." Little Foot said. "That doesn't look anything like like a tree branch. And that black bark at the end of it! It doesn't look anything like the tree bark we're used to seeing."

Chomper said nothing as he brought the strange stick down to the river and washed the mud and dirt off of it. He could see that it was discoloured in a few places, but it still retained most of it's colour.

He sniffed at it. "I'm starting to agree with Little Foot." Chomper announced. "This is no ordinary tree branch. It smells funny."

He then licked it and made a face. "BLECH! It TASTES funny, too!... it even FEELS funny!" He said as he felt the strange material at the end of it in his hands. "DEFINATELY not a tree branch!"

"Well, what else could it be?" Cera asked.

"I wish I knew!" Chomper said. He then held it in his hands. "It weighs practically nothing, though."

Then he swung it around in huge arcing circles like he'd seen Little Foot do when he whacked a pointy seed with his tail.

He accidentally struck Cera on her hind quarter in one particular swing. "OW! HEY, watch it!!" she cried out once she got hit.

"OOPS..." Chomper said in embarrasment. "Sorry!"

"GRRR!!!" she growled in anger at the diminutive sharptooth, who recoiled as he dropped the strange stick to the ground.

"There's something else down here!" Ruby exclaimed as she reached down into the sinkhole. She had to actually lie down on the ground in order for her hand to grab whatever it was she saw.

She pulled out what looked to be a rectangular shaped thing. It was a material unlike any of them had ever seen before, and you could see through it! Although it was full of mud, dirt and other debris, everyone could see that there were what looked like white eggs inside. But what was odd about these "eggs" was that they looked to be hard, and had multiple tiny depressions all over then; as though someone had dented them with really tiny spikes or horns.

Ruby brought the strange container down to the river to wash it clean. She also found out how to open up the container so that she could wash the "white eggs" that were inside. Fearing they were, in fact, eggs; she gingerly passed them through the running water. Although she did her best to wash them clean, there were still some stains on them.

When she brought the container and it's "eggs" out of the water, everybody heard the material CRACKling as she moved it about in her hands.

"Now THAT'S a really strange sound!" she said. "The clear colourless stuff also FEELS strange!" she then said as she felt the material.

She then set the strange container and it's contents down on the grass for all to see.

Petrie approached it. "They STRAAAANGE looking eggs, though!"

"I don't think those are eggs, Petrie." Little Foot said as he shook his head in puzzlement.

"If they're not eggs, what ARE they?" Chomper asked.

"Maybe it something you eat!" Petrie exclaimed as he grabbed one of the white round things and tried to munch on it.

Everyone heard a CRUNCH as though Petrie had clamped down on a hard rock. He cried out and gripped his beak in pain.

"You okay, Petrie?" Little Foot asked.

"Me think so." he said in shaky voice. "OOH... that thing harder than threehorn's HORN." He looked dizzy.

"Well, I know ONE thing." Little Foot said after a few moments of silence. "These things we found are NOT natural! No doubt about it! I wonder how many more such strange things we'd find in The Mysterious Beyond."

"Well, we won't know unless we go into The Mysterious Beyond and find out." Ruby said in answer.

Little Foot nodded. "Right! Which means there's only one thing left to do-"

"Whoa! WAIT a minute, Little Foot!" Cera interrupted. "Didn't you hear what your grandfather said!? He doesn't want ANY of us going into The Mysterious Beyond."

"Cera's right!" Chomper said. "What if we run into Red Claw and his fast biters?"

"Yeah!" Cera continued. "And what if the grown ups come looking for us. We'd be in TROUBLE!"

"Don't worry!" Little Foot encouraged. "We won't go far. And we'll be back before anybody realizes we're gone. Come on!"

"HOLD ON!" Cera insisted. "What if we went and showed these new things we found to your grandfather, instead? Maybe he knows what they are."

"I don't think so." Little Foot said. "If he didn't know what Ducky's shiny flat rock was, he wouldn't know what these things are, either. No! The answer to the question of what these things really are can only be found in The Mysterious Beyond, and that's where we have to go!"

Cera sighed and groaned. "Here we go again!"

Everyone followed Little Foot towards the hiding grass, which led to The Mysterious Beyond, and the possible answers to their many questions.


	3. Even More Strange Things

**CHAPTER 2**

**EVEN MORE STRANGE THINGS**

A short time later, the gang was in The Mysterious Beyond, looking under piles of rocks and in bushes as they went, hoping to find more of the unusual things like what they've found so far.

Chomper was carrying the black stick he found earlier, and struck at rocks with it on occasion.

"Hmmm..." he pondered as he eyed the grey bulge at the end of it. Then he had a revelation. "Hey, Petrie! Hand me one of those white rocks, will you?"

"Huh?" Petrie asked in confusion. "What you want these for?"

"I think this stick and those rocks were meant to be used together. I just wanna try one."

"Oh, okay." Petrie said as he opened up the container and tossed one of the white rocks to Chomper.

He let it fall at his feet, then lined it up with the grey bulge of the black stick, then swung and hit the white rock. An odd sounding THWACK was heard as Chomper sent the rock flying.

Everyone OOOOHed as they saw the white rock fly a long ways away and dissapear into a nearby wooded area.

Spike exclaimed as he took off running after the white rock. This sent Petrie, sitting on his back, flying off with a shout. He cried OOF as he landed hard on the rocky ground. The container with the remaining white rocks landed on the top of his head, knocking him dizzy. It burst open as it fell to the ground, sending the white rocks rolling and bouncing off everywhere.

"OH, NO!" Ducky gasped as she began running after the wayward round white rocks. Chomper and Ruby scrambled after Ducky as well to try and catch them. Little Foot stayed with Petrie to make sure he was all right.

"You okay, Petrie?" he asked his flyer friend.

"Yeah... me good." Petrie replied rather groggily as he tried to shake the cobwebs from his head.

A few minutes later, Ducky, Chomper and Ruby had gathered up all the white rocks and put them back in the container.

"Well, that's all of 'em!" Chomper exclaimed, "except for..."

Chomper's phrase was cut short by Spike emerging from a nearby bush proudly carrying the white rock he had knocked with the black stick a few minutes earlier. Spike came up and put it in the container along with the others.

"Thanks, Spike!" Chomper smiled.

Spike smiled back and gave his sharptooth friend a lick on the cheek that made Chomper laugh.

"Hey, everyone! I found another strange thing over here!!" Cera called.

Everyone ran to where Cera was, which was at the threshold of a cave.

"Where?" Little Foot asked once he got beside Cera.

"Right there!" Cera said as she indicated a curved greyish thing sticking up out of a pile of rocks.

Chomper and Ducky moved in to dig out what Cera found. Everyone saw that the curved grey hollow stick was attached to a rectangular base of the same colour with two oddly shaped round rocks at each end.

"Now THAT is the strangest thing we've found so far!!" Little Foot exclaimed.

"And I agree that Little Foot agrees!" Ruby said in turn.

"Something very strange is going on around here." Cera said. "And I have a feeling those rainbow faces are behind this somehow!"

"I think you're right, Cera." Little Foot said.

"But we won't know until we ask them." Ducky said.

"IF we ever ask them!" Little Foot said. "After we came back from Threehorn Peak, and the Stone of Cold Fire was destroyed, they went back into Beyond The Mysterious Beyond, and I haven't seen them since."

"You know," Cera began. "I've always felt that that Stone of Cold Fire wasn't really a stone after all, and you never really told us HOW the rainbow faces left to return into Beyond The Mysterious Beyond; other than to say 'they just left'."

"Well... I really can't explain it..." Little Foot said. "One minute, I was talking to them; then they pointed at something behind me. I turned around to look. When I saw nothing, I turned back, and they were gone. In their place, there was... I don't know... a... shaft of light, I guess..."

"A shaft of light???" Ruby said in confusion.

Little Foot nodded. "Then I looked up in the sky, and I saw another Stone of Cold Fire. But instead of crashing to the ground, it rose up and... just... dissapeared into the sky..."

Everyone was silent for a few moments. Ruby broke the silence. "What do you think it all means, Little Foot?"

Little Foot shook his head. "I don't know... Have you ever heard of such stories, Ruby?"

Ruby shook her head. "No... I must admit, though, that your strange story is even stranger than the strange stories I've heard from those who told stories."

Everybody else stayed silent. After a few moments, Little Foot said. "Well, in any case, there must be plenty more strange things from where THESE came from." he indicated all of the objects they now had in their possession. "I say we go look for them. Who's with me?"

"Me and Spike will go! Yep, yep, YEP!" Ducky said with enthusiasm.

Spike smiled and nodded. "Uh huh!"

"I'll go!" Chomper said as he raised his hand.

"Me go, too!" Petrie said as he happily flapped his wings.

"Count me in!" Ruby smiled.

Cera sighed. "I guess I'll go, too." She rolled her eyes.

"All right, it's settled!" Little Foot said with finality. "Ruby, since you know The Mysterious Beyond better than anyone else, you lead the way."

Ruby smiled and nodded. "This way!" she said as she pointed towards a canyon a short distance away.

She began moving towards it, and everybody followed.

-------------------------------------

A short time later, the entire gang were walking along a river with really fast water moving in it. They could see a waterfall off in the distance. As they grew nearer to it, though, they could see that it didn't look to be an ordinary waterfall. They could see that the great stone wall behind it looked to be really flat and smooth. Some pieces had broken off and fell to the ground, but a lot of the huge blocks retained their smooth structure.

"I wonder how long it took the rainbow faces to make THIS?" Cera asked rhetorically.

"Hmmm..." Little Foot pondered as he looked all the way up to the top of the waterfall. "Petrie!" he said as he turned to his young flyer friend. "Fly up to the top of the falling water and tell me what you see behind it."

Petrie nodded as he left his perch from Spike's back and did as Little Foot told him to.

When he reached the top of the stone wall, he gasped in surprise. "There big water at other side of falling water! BIIIIIG big water!!" he shouted down to his companions below.

"Big water???" Cera asked in confusion.

"It's almost as if this great stone wall was made to hold the water back somehow!" Chomper concluded.

"That would explain a lot, Chomper." Little Foot said.

"SPIKE! Be careful! It could be dangerous!" Ducky cried out.

Spike had walked up a rocky ramp that led towards the back of the waterfall and dissapeared behind for a few moments. He reappeared warbling for everyone to come up and see, but Little Foot was the only one brave enough to walk up the ramp to go see what Spike saw.

He emerged seconds later. "Everyone, come see!" he shouted loud enough to be heard over the sound of the falling water. "There's a cave, or a tunnel, that leads off behind the falling water!"

"You sure it's safe, Little Foot!?" Cera called out.

"I think so! Come on!!" Little Foot replied.

Everyone came up the ramp to join Little Foot and Spike. Little Foot led them inside the tunnel Spike found.

They noticed that there were cracks on the walls of the tunnel in certain places, and they could see rivulets of water running down the walls. They could also hear the echo of the water dripping all up and down the tunnel.

"Where's all this dripping water coming from?" Cera asked.

"I think it's coming from the big water Petrie saw... and we're underneath it." Little Foot said.

Petrie gulped. "You sure it safe to walk in here?" he asked.

"I think so..." Little Foot said. "As long as there's no earthshake."

Petrie looked around nervously while everyone else marveled at the smooth surface of the tunnel they were in.

"I don't think this is a natural cave, guys." Chomper said.

"For once, I agree with Chomper. Definitely NOT natural!" Cera said.

"This is even more extraordinary than the extraordinary things we've found so far!" Ruby commented.

"Well, whatever it is, it looks like it goes quite a ways away." Little Foot commented.

"I wonder how long it took the rainbow faces to make all this..." Cera mused.

"Probably a VERY long time. Yep, yep, YEP." Ducky commented.

Their voices echoed all down the tunnel as they kept going deeper inside it.

-------------------------------------

"How much farther does this tunnel go, ANYWAY!? We've been walking forever!" Cera said with some frustration.

"I don't think it goes much further. I see some light up ahead. We must be nearing the end." Little Foot said in reply to his threehorn friend.

Cera simply "humpf"ed.

There were still cracks in the tunnel walls, but no water was coming out from them; which told them that they must've traveled beyond the giant lake that Petrie saw at the top of the "waterfall".

When they finally reached the mouth of the tunnel, they saw it led out to a lush green jungle with several mountain peaks jutting out here and there. But one particular peak caught their interest. Their eyes grew wide in surprise as they saw that it was made up of three distinct rainbow face heads. Although they all appeared cracked in many places, and one rainbow face head lost half it's upper and lower jaws; they couldn't help but marvel at the amazing detail all three heads showed. Almost as if whoever made it made sure that they looked absolutely perfect!

"Now THAT is the STRANGEST of the strangest things we've found!!" Cera exclaimed.

Everybody just nodded in stunned silence.

"D... do you think this what rainbow faces mean when they said they going back to Beyond Mysterious Beyond?" Petrie asked, breaking the silence.

Little Foot shook his head. "I don't think so, Petrie; but they may have lived here once.... long ago..." Little Foot trailed off.

After a few more moments of silence, Little Foot broke it. "Well, we can't keep all this a secret. We've got to tell EVERYONE what we've seen and found."

"I agree, Little Foot." Chomper said. "This time, I don't think even Mr. Threehorn can dismiss everything that we've seen and found."

"But what does it all MEAN?" Ducky asked.

Little Foot shook his head. "I don't know, Ducky. But I have a feeling we're going to find out soon."

With that, they all turned to head back towards the other end of the tunnel.


	4. Eyes In The Sky

**CHAPTER 3**

**EYES IN THE SKY**

High above the planet, in synchronous orbit over The Great Valley, was the starship United Interstellar Vessel(U.I.S.V.) Enterprise, from the Federation of Space Faring Species. It was captained by Jarrok Tiburon Kirkland, a rainbow face Saurian with almost 10 Terran years of space exploration service to his name.

He was sitting in his Captain's chair on the Bridge, gazing at the image of the planet on the main viewscreen in front of him. It was a planet his species called Terra. A planet they once called "home", a long time ago.

He opened the log recorder he had in his hands, and began to record. "Captain's Log, Interstellar Date 10116.9.23. It has now been a month and a half into our observation mission of the planet Terra. We continue to observe the population of primitive Saurians still living on the planet. Nothing out of the ordinary. They still continue to live out their lives, totally oblivious to the eyes in the sky watching them, searching for any signs of progress. None are apparent. Kirkland out."

He closed the recorder and sighed. From day one, he wondered why the High Council, and the current President of The Federation, would send him and his valiant crew out here, to this planet his ancestors had turned their backs on generations ago.

Then he remembered something he forgot to record, and opened up the recorder again. "Personal note: My main fear out of all this is that if those Saurians down there were ever to find out the truth, how will it affect their everyday lives? Will they question their origins, or will they dismiss it at something bizarre and unexplained, which would be too complex for their primitive minds to understand? They came close to finding out the truth a short time ago; but thanks to some trustworthy friends, the whole thing was covered up, for the sake of their own good. But what will happen, should they be faced with those same questions again? I wonder..."

"Captain!" he heard a voice from his right say as he closed the recorder.

The deep voice who called him was his First Officer, and Head Scientist, known only to him and his shipmates as Mr. Kark. He belonged to a race of beings called the Vulkadians, who were sentient Draconians. They had achieved space flight thousands of Terran years before the rainbow face Saurians ever ventured out into space. Shortly after the time known as The Great Departure, where all the surviving rainbow faces left Terra, they made first contact. They've agreed to share their Ultra Light Speed technology with the rainbow faces in order to develop their first starships, and establish the Federation of Space Faring Species.

Unlike the Saurians, which tended to be wildly emotional, the Vulkadians practiced the discipline of repressing negative emotions, like anger, hate and jealousy; but some Vulkadians, like Mr. Kark, believed that if negative emotions had to be suppressed; positive emotions, like love, joy and happiness, had to be as well. Many on the ship believed that Mr. Kark had never felt such emotions. He was never really open about it, so everybody on the ship just assumed it as such; and nobody ever saw him express any kind of emotion whatsoever.

Yet despite his lack of emotion, Mr. Kark was a pretty imposing figure! He stood nearly eight feet tall, and was amazingly strong! Kirkland once saw him lift a bulkhead with just one clawed hand with ease while it would've taken three rainbow faces to lift that same bulkhead with all of their strength!

His leathery Draconian skin was deep red, he had two jet black horns protruding from the top of his head, and they were bent backwards towards his skull. His eyes were deep brown in colour, almost Saurian like. His jaws were long on his wedge shaped head, and he had sharp teeth that could literally bite the arm off of a Saurian, yet most of his race were vegetarians. His personal philosophy made him abstain from eating meat, or any kind of animal flesh. The same was true for most members of his race, and he had all of the characteristics of a healthy adult Draconian male.

Although Mr. Kark would be great in battle, he abhored violence. None of his race believed in war, only in peace; and the only time he fought, it was in self defence. Yet Mr. Kark told stories of how his race was deeply violent in the past, and it was this violence that nearly caused their annihilation. Faced with this, the wisest members of his race decided to adopt a philosophy of peace and the suppression of negative emotions, which they believed was the root cause of the violence that nearly destroyed them all.

As a Scientist, he wore the blue shirt that identified his profession on the ship, in the Starship Fleet; and he bore the rank of Commander. All those who served on the Enterprise wore the colour shirt that identified their rank and profession. Engineers wore deep red shirts, low ranking officers and Ensigns wore light red shirts, Science Officers, like Mr. Kark, wore dark blue, Doctors and Medical Officers wore light blue, Saurians who held positions of authourity wore golden yellow shirts, and Captain Kirkland wore a special green coloured shirt that identified him as the Commanding Officer.

These shirts was also worn as a sign that they were civilized. During their off hours, though, many preferred not to wear the shirt of their rank; while others, like Mr. Kark, preferred to wear loose fitting clothing. Mr. Kark, in particular, wore a white robe, and often meditated in private during his off hours. Those who engaged in strenuous activities simply went shirtless.

Mr. Kark was sitting at his Science station on the Bridge, gazing into his scanner, when he called the Captain over. Despite their greatly opposing outlooks on life, they both became good friends. Often times, Kirkland would joke that Kark was becoming more and more Saurian every day, while Kark would simply state that insults were not becoming of him.

"What is it, Mr. Kark?" Kirkland asked when he got beside Kark.

"I am detecting several Saurians who are where they are not supposed to be..." Kark said in answer.

"Explain!" Kirkland ordered.

"The bio signatures are clear! These Saurians have wandered into an area in what they call 'The Mysterious Beyond' where they should not be." Kark said as he turned to face his Captain.

Kirkland grew nervous. "Where?"

Kark turned back to his scanner. "Near what was once known as The Hoosier Dam. They're in the old maintenance tunnel."

Kirkland swore under his breath. Kark simply raised a ridged eyebrow.

"Do we still have access to the tunnel's security system installed by Riggs and his wife?" Kirkland asked his First Officer.

"Affirmative." Kark nodded.

"Put image on main viewer."

Kark pressed a button, and the image of the young Saurians wandering down the old maintenance tunnel came on to the screen.

"They're different races..." the Navigator, Lieutenant Pavel Koralenko, commented from his post. He had retained the typical Prusselian accent of his Terran ancestors. "How could that be!?"

"I thought the primitive Saurian races all kept to themselves." the Tactial Officer, Lieutenant Hiraku Chang, said from his station. Chang's origins were from the Asiatic region of Terra. Both wore the golden shirts of their ranks.

"Well, these Saurians obviously don't. Ensign Urbina." Kirkland said as he turned to the rainbow face Communications Officer. "Open a chanel to Lieutenant Riggs' quarters."

"Aye, sir." she said as she pressed a few buttons on her station.

------------------------------------

In his quarters, Lieutenant Briank Riggs was sitting at his library console reading some random stuff. He shared his quarters with his wife, Lieutenant Yolanda Sanderson-Riggs. They were both Science Officers under Mr. Kark's command. They were first paired together a little over one Terran year ago. They went on many missions of scientific research together, and it was only until just before their last mission to Terra that the romance between them began to blossom. They were married shortly after coming back from that mission.

Yolanda sidled up to Briank, placed a hand on his shoulder, and looked at what he was reading. "What do you have there, dear?" she asked her husband.

"A poem." Briank answered. "It was written by Genk Roddenberry a long time ago, called 'My Love Has Wings', in honour of his private airplane."

"Hm! Interesting." Yolanda commented.

After a few moments, she began stroking his shoulder. "You know what I feel like doing..." she said seductively.

"Do tell!" Briank said as he gazed back at his wife, placing his hand on hers.

"I feel like listening to our song!"

Brianks smiled and patted her hand. "All right. Anything for you, dear."

He removed the library tape from the console that had the poem file, put another tape in, then pressed a button to make it play.

They started dancing and swaying as the first beats of the song began to be heard over the console's speakers.

The song was called "Dire Maker", and was written by a musical group called The Zeppelin Flyers. Although they were rainbow faces, the lead singer named the group in honour of a good friend of his, who was a female flyer. It was believed, by many of his fans, that they later got married; though that rumour was never actually confirmed.

Out of all the things that Briank and Yolanda had in common, it was their love of ancient music that really bonded them together. The Zeppelin Flyers song was played on their wedding day, and it later became their song.

Briank moved in behind his wife, hugged her close, and swayed with her as he sang the following lyrics in her earhole in time with the singer on the tape:

Well, I read the letter you wrote me

It made me mad mad mad...

When I read the words that it told me

It made me sad sad sad...

But I still love you so

I can't let you go

I love you!

OOH... BABY I LOVE YOU!

The whistling sound of his quarter's intercom resounded. Briank pressed the button on the console to pause the tape's song and walked up to the intercom on the wall.

"Riggs here..." he said as he pressed the button to open the intercom.

"This is the Captain." Kirkland's voice said. "Come to the Bridge right away, and bring your wife with you."

"Acknowledged." he replied as he closed the intercom.

He reached for his dark blue shirt lying on the nearby couch, and handed his wife's identical coloured shirt to her.

"What's going on?" Yolanda asked.

"We'll soon find out." Briank smiled

They put on their shirts as they walked out of their quarters and into the hallway. The sliding doors automatically opening and shutting behind them as they walked out.

------------------------------------

A few minutes later, the sliding doors of the turbo lift opened to reveal Briank and Yolanda. They stepped onto the Bridge and came up next to Captain Kirkland, sitting in his chair.

"What's up?" Briank asked Kirkland casually.

From the getgo, Captain Kirkland said to his crew that he didn't stand on formalities. With any other Captain, Briank would've been obliged to stand at attention and say: "Lieutenant Riggs, Science Officer, reporting as ordered SIR!" But Kirkland said that that wasn't necessary. This made for a more relaxed and pleasant atmosphere on the Enterprise, which made it a rather unique starship to serve on.

Kirkland indicated the main viewscreen, which showed the young Saurians walking down the old maintenance tunnel.

"Oh, no!" Briank said in a worried tone.

Kirkland eyed his Lieutenant questioningly. "Friends of yours?"

Briank sighed. "Unfortunately."

"We've encountered them before." Yolanda said.

"On your last mission to the planet? Where you went to try and recover the damaged probe?" Kirkland asked.

Briank nodded sadly. "Yes."

"You never really told me what went on during that mission..." Kirkland pressed.

"They're an exceptionally curious bunch..." Briank began.

"... especially the longneck Saurian." Yolanda finished.

"Well, looks like I'll have to send you two down there again..." Kirkland said after a few moments.

Briank and Yolanda looked at each other. Then Briank sighed and nodded. "Understood."

"This time, I don't care what it takes! I want you to convince them that what they've seen and found is completely natural!" Kirkland ordered.

Briank nodded. "Understood, sir."

"Take a shuttlepod down. Engineer Sloan will tell you which one to take. You'll be issued standard equipment, including phasers, in case you run into any meat eating Saurians. We'll maintain radio silence. Contact us when you've completed your mission."

"Aye, sir!" Yolanda and Briank both said simultaneously.

"That's all! Dismissed!"

Briank and Yolanda nodded before turning to dissapear into the turbo lift.

Mr. Kark sidled up to Captain Kirkland, his hands behind his back. "Do you think their mission will succeed this time, Captain?"

Kirkland eyed his Vulkadian friend. "I hope so."

"Wait!" Lieutenant Chang called from his station. "Isn't that a sharptooth???" he asked in astonishment as he pointed to the diminutive form of Chomper on the viewscreen.

"You're right, Lieutenant! It IS a sharptooth!" Kirkland exclaimed as he saw what his Tactical Officer saw.

"I thought sharpteeth didn't hang out with flatteeth..." Lieutenant Koralenko said from his own navigator's station.

"THIS one does..." Kirkland mused.

"Fascinating!" Kark simply commented as he raised an eyeridge.

-------------------------------------

A short time later, the shuttlepod Briank and Yolanda took came to land in the jungle a few hundred meters away from the mouth of the old maintenance tunnel that led to the old Hoosier Dam. A ramp silently opened to the grassy ground, and the rainbow face pair emerged from the shuttle pod.

Briank switched on his tricorder and started scanning. "They're about three quarters of the way down the maintenance tunnel." he told his wife and away mission partner.

"Do you think they saw that?" Yolanda asked as she indicated the remnants of Mount Roontian made up of the three carved rainbow face busts of the three long since dead former Presidents of the United Laurentian States, an ancient Terran country of ages past.

"Probably..." Briank replied as he opened his portable communicator. "Computer?" he said into it.

"Computer... ready..." said the flat robotic female computer's voice moments later.

"Tie in to my tricorder coordinates. Beam us to that location."

"Acknowledged..." the female voice said. "Standby for transport..."

Briank shut his communicator and stood ready. His wife did, too.

Moments later, they shimmered and dissapeared as the transporter beam caught them.

----------------------------------

Moments later, they reappeared in the maintenance tunnel not far from the mouth that led to the ancient Hoosier Dam.

Yolanda cried as she lifted her foot from a puddle of cold water she had rematerialized in. "Did we have to rematerialize in this spot, dear?" Yolanda asked as she stepped out of the cold puddle of water and shook her foot dry.

"Yes." Briank said as he gazed at the many cracks where the lake water up above was seeping. "We have to make it look like we came from the dam entrance. They shouldn't be too far now. Let's go greet them, shall we?" Briank smiled to his wife.

Yolanda smiled back, and they both made their way towards Little Foot and his friends.


	5. Aquaintances Reunite

**CHAPTER 4**

**AQUAINTANCES REUNITE**

Little Foot was walking down the old maintenance tunnel, leading his friends back to the other end.

Suddenly, he stopped.

"HEY! Why'd you stop!?" Cera cried as she bumped into him.

"QUIET!" he ordered her. "You hear that?"

"Me not hear anything." Petrie said.

"I can hear it!" Chomper said. "It's like a low rumbling sound."

Then they all heard it, for the noise was growing steadily louder.

Cera was the first to respond to it. "EARTHSHAKE!" she cried as she crouched her head down and placed her forepaws over top of it, visibly shaking from fright.

"No, Cera! It's not an earthshake!" Little Foot stated.

Cera lifted one eye to him. "How do YOU know?" she asked him before shutting it again and continuing to crouch down in fear of having rocks fall on her head.

"Because I recognize it!" Little Foot answered. "That's exactly the same sound The Stone Of Cold Fire made before it crashed at the top of Threehorn Peak."

All stayed silent as the sound grew louder, then diminished. The sound eventually dissipated until all was quiet again. Everybody stayed silent, hoping to hear a crashing sound, but none came.

"Do you think the Stone Of Cold Fire crashed far away from here, Little Foot?" Ducky asked.

"Maybe..." Little Foot mused. "Come on!" he then ordered as he continued to make his way back towards the other end of the tunnel.

--------------------------------------

A short time later, Little Foot and his gang were about three quarters of the way down the maintenance tunnel when he stopped again. This time, Cera was able to break in time before she bumped into him again.

"NOW what!?" she asked in frustration.

Little Foot shushed her as he listened. "Someone's coming!"

Chomper put his clawed hand to his earhole. "Yep! There's no mistaking it! Those are DEFINATELY footsteps. Whoever they are, there're TWO of them. And they're two footers."

Petrie gasped. "Oh, no! It be Red Claw's fast biters, Screech and Thud!" He then covered his head with his winged arms, visibly shaking.

Little Foot shook his head. "I don't think so, Petrie."

"Well, who else could they BE!?" Cera asked in frustration.

"We'll soon find out... They're about to turn that corner up ahead..." Little Foot said.

Sure enough, the two figures turned the corner. Little Foot smiled slowly when he saw who it was.

Cera, however, did not share Little Foot's joy at seeing the two familiar flattooths. "Humpf! I should've KNOWN you two would show up EVENTUALLY!"

"What are you kids doing here?" the male rainbow face said, ignoring Cera.

"Yes! This area of The Mysterious Beyond is quite dangerous! There are many sharpteeth about!" the female rainbow face said in turn.

"That's right! And this whole cave could collapse on top of you, if there was an earthshake. You'd be trapped down here FOREVER!" the male rainbow face finished.

Little Foot's expression grew more serious. "STOP LYING, whoever you are!" Little Foot exclaimed. "We know this 'cave' is not a cave, and these items we've found are not natural, EITHER!"

"Really?" the male rainbow face said, feigning ignorance.

"Show us, please." the female rainbow face said as she approached to take the black object Chomper was carrying, and the container full of white rocks Ruby was carrying.

The male rainbow face took the shiny rock Ducky was carrying.

"OOH... Wherever did you get such a beautiful shiny flat rock?" he asked.

"And this black tree branch... and these eggs... They are MOST unusual!" the female commented at the objects in her hands.

Little Foot growled. "There's NO WAY you're gonna convince ME and my friends that those things you have in your claws are NATURAL, and neither is THIS!" He pushed the grey object off of Spike's back, which fell to their feet with a CLANG as it hit the rocky floor. "And those black things you have around your waists! Don't tell me THOSE are natural, too!!"

The male rainbow face looked down at his waist and saw that he was still wearing his belt pack, as was his female companion. Although they both took off their rank shirt before leaving the shuttlepod, he had forgotten to take off the belt pack, and advise his companion to do the same.

"Oops..." the male mouthed in embarrassment while the female just glared at him.

"We want THE TRUTH! And if you're not gonna tell us what these things really are, or that strange mountain back there, OR that great stone wall holding back the big water, then don't bother saying anything AT ALL!!" Little Foot shouted in anger.

"YEAH!" Cera exclaimed in expression of her own anger.

Both rainbow faces eyed each other. "Should we?" the male asked his female companion.

The female sighed. "Might as well! They won't leave us alone until we do."

The male then approached the young dinos. "All right, young ones. If you want the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, you'll have to follow us."

"Where are you taking us?" Chomper asked.

"To a place where you can learn the truth." the female said as she moved to follow her male companion, who was heading back towards the other end of the maintenance tunnel.

"Well, come on! We haven't got all day!" the male rainbow face motioned when he turned back and saw that none of young dinos were following.

"What do you think, Little Foot? Should we trust them?" Ducky asked.

"If we want to know the truth, we'll have to." Little Foot answered as he moved to follow the two rainbow faces.

"By the way, what are your names?" the male rainbow face asked the young dinos when they caught up with him and his female companion.

Little Foot made introductions all around.

"Charmed, I'm sure!" Cera said when Little Foot introduced her.

"You are quick to judge, and frequently jump to conclusions without examining all the facts. Typical of your kind!" the female rainbow face said.

This made Cera blink. "Now what's she mean by that?" she asked Petrie.

"Me no know." Petrie said with a shrug from his perch on Spike's back.

"In any case, we are pleased to make your aquaintance. I am Briank Riggs, and this is my.... mate... Yolanda Sanderson-Riggs." the male said. He caught himself before he said "wife" knowing full well how these primitive dinos would not understand the meaning of the term.

"How do you do?" Yolanda said in greeting with a bow.

"Those are pretty unusual names for flattooths..." Little Foot commented.

"We're pretty unusual flattooths..." Yolanda said.

Cera humpfed. "WEIRD'S more like it!"

Both rainbow faces giggled at Cera's comment. "You don't know the HALF of it, dearie!" Yolanda teased.

"Grrr... I HATE mysteries!" Cera growled.

--------------------------------------

A short time later, both rainbow faces guided Little Foot and his friends to their shuttlepod. The young dinos all stood in wide mouthed awe at what they saw.

Petrie was the first to comment. "It look like giant egg with LEGS!" he would say.

"Yeah! Except that I don't think those legs were made for walking!" Cera commented in turn, once she regained her composure.

"How very astute, young one." Yolanda said with a smile.

In fact, the elongated shape of the shuttlepod was very reminiscent of an egg, and the tripod on which it stood reminded Little Foot and his friends of skinny, stiff legs; when they were, in fact, solid grey metal stems that was the shuttlepod's landing gear.

Briank opened up a panel on the back of the shuttlepod and pressed a few buttons on it. A few faint BEEPing sound could be heard as he pressed said buttons. The hidden ramp extended to the grassy ground and a door opened up to reveal an entrance. Some of the young dinos recoiled in fright as they saw the "egg" open up.

"Well, don't just stand there, come on in! There's plenty of room for everybody!" Yolanda motioned as she walked up the ramp.

Everyone looked to Little Foot to find out what they were to do next. He just glanced at everyone and started walking towards the ramp, determined to get to the bottom of this great mystery they were faced with.

Once inside, Briank pressed buttons on another panel inside the shuttlepod to close the ramp and outer door. Everyone could hear a rhythmic humming sound coming from beneath them.

"What's that?" Little Foot asked.

"That's the engine." Briank answered.

"The WHAT???" Little Foot asked in genuine confusion.

"It powers our shuttlepod, and allows us to... fly..." Yolanda said.

Little Foot blinked in confusion.

"We'll explain it all to you." Briank said, seeing how confused Little Foot was at the concept.

"We'll be more comfortable in here, and we won't be bothered by the engine's noise. It's well insulated." Yolanda said as she walked through a set of sliding doors.

Everybody followed her into the main shuttlepod room. All the yound dinos marveled at what was in the room. They saw panels that had switches, levers, and flashing lights here and there. There was a table with four chairs in the center of the room, and another set of sliding doors at the far end of the room that led to the shuttlepod's cockpit.

Briank took up a chair on the far left while Chomper and Ruby took the two seats nearest to them. Little Foot, Cera and Spike settled down to the carpeted floor while Petrie assumed his regular perch at the top of Little Foot's head. Ducky, being too small for the remaining chair, sat down next to Spike, her adoptive big brother. Chomper's head just barely reached the top of the table.

"If you're hungry, our replicator can manufacture food for you." Briank offered.

"Now THIS I've gotta see!" Cera said.

"Can you make tree stars?" Little Foot asked.

"We can make you something BETTER than tree stars!" Yolanda smiled.

"BETTER than tree stars???" Little Foot asked in confusion.

"What could be better than TREE STARS!?" Cera asked.

"You'll see..." Yolanda smiled as she grabbed a tape that was lying on the console, and put it into the appropriate slot of the replicator. Some lights flashed on the panel as she pressed a few buttons on the replicator's console. Moments later, a small door opened up to reveal two medium sized metal bowls and one smaller bowl filled with a green leafy salad.

"Here. Try this!" Yolanda said as she placed the two larger bowls at Little Foot's and Cera's feet and handed the smaller bowl to Petrie.

"What's it called?" Little Foot asked.

"It's called a Romanian Emperor's Salad." Briank answered.

Little Foot sniffed at it. "It smells funny!"

"Little Foot right!" Petrie said as he sniffed at his own bowl. "This not smell like tree stars."

"That's because of the salad dressing. But it's really good! You'll see!" Yolanda smiled.

Little Foot tentatively grabbed a lettuce leaf from the bowl and chewed on it. He moaned happily at the flavours he tasted. "This is really good!!"

"Yes! Although it's only resequenced proteins, the flavour simulation is REMARKABLE!" Briank smiled.

Petrie, after seeing Little Foot taste his concoction, had a nibble at his own bowl of greens. "Mmmm! This GOOD tree star salad!"

Both rainbow faces smiled.

Cera was hesitant at first, but after seeing Little Foot and Petrie help themselves to some more of the strange concoctions they were given, she picked a lettuce leaf out of her own bowl and tasted it. She chewed on it pensively and swallowed. "Very nice!" she commented.

"Glad you like it!" Briank smiled.

Yolanda pressed a button on the replicator console to produce a larger bowl of salad. "And for you, my silent stegasaur friend, knowing full well how much your kind loves to eat, you get an extra large portion." she said as she placed the large bowl at Spike's feet.

"And what about me?" Ducky asked with her hands on her hips.

"Oh, you can share from your big brother's bowl, if you'd like." Briank said.

"Yes! There's more than enough there for both of you, and we know your kind doesn't eat much." Yolanda said in turn.

Spike sniffed at it, let loose a happy cry, and tore into it. He grabbed a huge mouthful and chewed happily on it, letting a few pieces fall to the floor.

"SPIKE! Leave some for me!!" Ducky exclaimed as she grabbed a large lettuce leaf before Spike could get to it, sat down with it and bit into it, moaning happily.

Yolanda removed the tape from the slot, and replaced it with another one. More lights flashed, and the panel revealed a plate holding something that was square and mostly yellow.

"And young Ruby, knowing how your kind can eat practically anything, I offer you this..." Yolanda said as she set the plate in front of the female fast runner.

Ruby sniffed at the plate. "It's got a rather nice smell to it. What is it?" Ruby asked.

"It's called a Western omelet..." Briank answered with a smile.

"Strange name for a strange looking thing." Ruby said as she gingerly picked up a piece from the plate, and tasted it. "Mmmm..." she moaned. "It's delicious, and I don't eat many delicious things!"

"We're glad you like it..." Briank smiled.

"And finally, for you, my young tyrannosaur friend, I may have just the thing!" Yolanda said as she put yet another tape in the slot. Amidst more flashing lights, the panel opened to reveal something brown and somewhat oval in shape on a plate. Yolanda took it out of the replicator and set it in front of Chomper.

"What's this?" Chomper asked as he eyed it.

"It's known as a steak." Briank answered.

"And it's a choice item for meat eaters like you." Yolanda smiled.

Chomper sniffed it. "Smells good!" Then he picked it up. "YOW!" he cried out as he let it drop back to the plate. "It burns!!" he whined as he shook his clawed hands.

Yolanda chuckled. "That's because it's still hot... Let it cool down for a bit."

Chomper did as he was told. After a few moments, he picked up the steak again. It still felt warm, but at least he was able to keep it in his hands without burning himself. Then he tore a piece from it and chewed it slowly, then swallowed it. "Mmm! Spicy!!" he commented with a smile.

"We knew you'd like it!" Yolanda smiled. "Anything for you, dear?" she then asked her mate as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Just coffee for me, thanks." Briank answered.

Moments later, Yolanda brought him his cup of coffee while she took the remaining empty chair beside him holding a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on a small plate and a glass of milk she had replicated for herself.

Everybody ate their meals in silence before Little Foot would ask his pressing questions to the two rainbow faces.


	6. Strange Things Explained

**CHAPTER 5**

**STRANGE THINGS EXPLAINED**

"So what IS the truth!?" Little Foot asked as he took a break from eating his salad. "What are all these things we've seen and found? Was it the rainbow faces who made them? WHY were they made!? For what purpose? And why are you so bent on keeping everything a secret!?"

Briank smiled. "So many questions..." he began.

"... and so little time to answer them." Yolanda completed.

"Well, you'd better MAKE the time!" Cera said with severity. "'Cause we're not leaving here until you tell us EVERYTHING."

"Which was why we brought you here." Yolanda stated.

"Good! Thanks for the food, by the way." Little Foot said as he nibbled at another bunch of greens from his bowl.

Briank smiled and nodded. "You're quite welcome."

Then he grew more serious. "Most of what we are about to tell you comes from stories my people have passed down from generation to generation. My own father and grandfather told them to ME when I was about your age. I also learned them from studying the historical tapes I've gathered over the years."

"Which is QUITE an extensive collection!" Yolanda smiled. "You should see it!"

"I'm a bit of a historian."

"Is that anything like a storyteller?" Little Foot asked.

Briank nodded. "In a sense. I like hearing old stories, and retelling them to those who are willing to listen."

"Then I'm sure you must have PLENTY of stories to tell." Cera said.

Briank smiled at the young threehorn. "Indeed I do!"

"And everything I, myself, know about history, I've learned from him." Yolanda said.

"But before you two get into that..." Little Foot interrupted. "Can you at least tell us what these things we've found are, and what that great stone wall is, and that mountain with the carved rainbow face heads?"

"Certainly!" Yolanda continued. "That 'shiny flat rock' Ducky has is a GOLD COIN that was used by my people way in the distant past to... buy things."

"Buy things???" Little Foot asked in confusion. "How does THAT work?"

"Say you had a whole bunch of tree stars, and someone came along and said: 'I'll take all of the tree stars you have and give you this gold coin for them.' THAT was how it was used." Briank said in explanation.

Little Foot nodded somberly. "I see."

"Some of us even kept coins like that in a collection." Yolanda then said.

"You mean like us collecting tree stars?" Little Foot said.

Briank nodded. "Yes. Except we didn't eat those coins afterwards."

This brought laughter from the young dinos.

"And the rainbow face head and four lined thing that's on it?" Little Foot then asked.

"The head on that coin represents an old great leader of our people who established a way of running things called 'responsible government'." Yolanda said.

"And the 'four lined thing' on the back of it represents the building where that way of running things was invented." Briank said.

"Does this mean that under this 'responsible gover'... whatever, the leader has to take responsibility for his actions?" Cera asks.

"Indeed!" Briank smiled and nodded.

"Oh... makes sense." Cera smiled.

So this... 'shiny coin' I have is pretty special?"

Yolanda smiled and nodded. "It is, my young friend!"

This made Ducky feel proud.

"But in any case, we have no need for such things now." Yolanda said.

"Yes! Our society has grown beyond that old system of exchange. While coins like that represented great wealth and prosperity in the past, they are worthless to us now."

"Kinda like us... We don't need shiny flat coins like that to get things like tree stars." Little Foot stated.

"Excellent analogy, young longneck!" Briank smiled.

"Thanks!" Little Foot said as he smiled in return.

"And speaking of governments and leaders, that mountain you saw with the carved rainbow face heads are actually replicas of three important leaders called 'Presidents' who were actually the founding fathers of a form of leadership called 'Democracy'..." Yolanda began.

"... Where you got to vote for your leader of choice every four years or so." Briank completed.

"The mountain was actually called 'Mount Roontian'; named after the Architect who designed it." Yolanda then said.

"Needless to say, it was an important landmark for our people."

"I'll bet." Little Foot said.

"And that 'great stone wall' you saw was actually called 'The Hoosier Dam'..." Briank began.

"... Named after the President who's likeness is one of the rainbow face heads that's a part of Mount Roontian." Yolanda completed.

"He's the one of the far left." Briank said.

"You mean the one who's mouth is partially broken off?" Ruby asked.

Briank nodded. "Yes..."

"A shame! He had such a nice flat mouth, for a rainbow face." Yolanda sadly said.

"I'm sure!" Cera said.

"In any case, the Hoosier Dam was designed to keep the water from flooding the canyon you probably walked through." Briank said.

"What about hollow grey stick with rocks you can see through?" Petrie asked.

"That's what's known as a 'fawcet'..." Briank began.

"... It was used to bring water into a home." Yolanda finished.

"And those 'see through rocks', as you call them, are actually the hot and cold water valves." Briank said.

"OOOH! That very interesting!" Petrie said in awe.

"And what about this black stick and those white round rocks?" Chomper asked.

Yolanda smiled. "That is what's known as a 'golf club'..."

"A 'driver', to be exact!" Briank chimed in.

"And those 'white rocks' are 'golf balls'." Yolanda said.

"They were meant to be used together in a sport that goes by the same name." Briank said.

"I KNEW they were meant to be used together!" Chomper said to everybody.

"You certainly figureded it out, Chomper! Yep, yep, YEP!" Ducky said.

Yolanda smiled. "It was a very popular sport way back in the distant past."

"I've often heard stories about how Elwood 'Tiger' Woodson broke all of the records of the sport and became the richest rainbow face alive in the process! He won more prize money than anybody could ever imagine!!" Briank beamed.

Little Foot nodded. "I'm sure it was a fun game to play, as Chomper found out."

Chomper flashed him a toothy grin.

"But before I get into the story of our distant past, would anyone would care for some dessert?" Briank asked, noticing that everybody was done with their main course.

"Sure!" Little Foot exclaimed. "Can you make sweet bubbles?"

"Sweet... bubbles???" Yolanda asked in genuine confusion.

Briank whispered something in her earhole.

"AH, YES! Of COURSE, that's something we have. Let's see! You prefer the purple variety, yes?" Yolanda asked.

"The purpler, the better!" Cera exclaimed.

Yolanda placed the appropriate tape in the replicator's slot. More flashes of light were seen before the panel opened to reveal a large tray filled with bunches of purple grapes.

"Here! Help yourselves." she said as she set the tray on the table. Everybody grabbed a bunch from the tray.

She then produced a huge bowl for Spike and Ducky to share.

"I'll take those. Thank you!" Yolanda said as she grabbed the now empty bowls and plates that held their first course. She put them in the replicator's panel, and pressed a button. After more flashing lights, the panel opened to show the bowls and plates were gone.

Cera stopped chewing her bunch of sweet bubbles momentarily when she saw the now empty replicator that contained all of the empty plates and bowls just moment ago. "Fascinating!" she simply said with her mouth full.

Both rainbow faces simply smiled.

"What about me?" Chomper asked. "I can't eat sweet bubbles. What am 'I' supposed to have?"

"Hmmm..." Yolanda pondered. "Are meat eaters lactose intolerant?" she then asked her mate.

Briank shook his head. "I don't think so."

Yolanda smiled. "Then I may have just the thing for you!"

She then placed another tape inside the appropriate slot. Moments later, a medium sized vertical glass container appeared revealing something Chomper had never seen before. Yolanda took it out and set it before Chomper.

"What's this?" he asked.

"It's called an 'ice cream sundae'." she answered. "And you eat it with this." She handed Chomper a spoon.

"You can give the cherry on top to somebody else." Briank said.

"Me take it!" Petrie exclaimed as he flew up to the table and picked the cherry off of the top of the mound of ice cream.

Chomper then scooped up a helping of the strange white and brown stuff and tasted it. "Mmmmm!" he moaned as he savoured the unbelievably sweet flavours that exploded in his mouth. Although it was ice cold, Chomper didn't seem to mind. "This is really good!!" he exclaimed as he quickly scooped in a few more helpings of the ice cold stuff in his mouth.

Then he suddenly let out a "GUUH!" cry, made a face, let the spoon drop to the table top and placed his clawed hands to the sides of his face.

"You ate that too fast, young one!" Yolanda said.

"Why does it hurt between my eyes!?" Chomper cried.

"You're just having a 'brain freeze'." Briank answered. "Don't worry! You'll feel fine in a couple of minutes."

"HA! Let that be a lesson to you!" Cera taunted.

"OOH... Believe me, I've LEARNED my lesson!" Chomper whined.

Eventually, Chomper felt better and breathed a sigh of relief. "The pain's gone now. Guess I'm back to normal."

"Now eat the rest of it SLOWLY, young one." Yolanda ordered.

"You got it! I'm NEVER doing that again, take my word for it!"Chomper said, prompting fits of laughter from everyone.

"Second cup, dear?" Yolanda asked her mate when the laughter died down, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Why not?" Briank said as he smiled up at her.

She took the now empty cup from the table, put it in the replicator to make it dissapear, and quickly produced another cup of coffee just the way he liked it.

"That replicator of yours is quite practical!" Little Foot said.

"Indeed it is!" Briank said with a smile as he took the cup that was handed to him by his mate and took a sip from it.


	7. Echoes From The Distant Past

**CHAPTER 6**

**ECHOES FROM THE DISTANT PAST**

Briank began his story. "What I am about to tell you happened a long, long time ago. Long before ANY of us were born.

"You see, there was a time, way in our distant past, when we were not that much different than you. We lived in the green areas, like you did. We were wild, free, primitive, uncivilized..."

"Then what happened?" Little Foot asked.

"Some of us developed what was called 'intelligence'. This gave us the ability to think and reason..." Yolanda answered.

"... And with that intelligence came the ability to change our surrounding environment... That is what allowed us to gain dominance over the other Saurian races..." Briank said.

"But this 'dominance' didn't happen overnight." Yolanda continued. "It took literally thousands of years before we became ingenius enough to create artificial environments that would help us survive better..."

"... And that same 'ingenuity' allowed us to create all of the things you have in your possession... As well as marvelous structures, like The Hoosier Dam and Mount Roontian..." Briank said.

"Needless to say, thanks to these artificial environments, our population THRIVED until we were literally MILLIONS of rainbow faces living in this world, and we lived in perfect harmony with your kind." Yolanda said with a certain sense of nostalgia.

"Until one day, we were forced to leave this world. To dissapear into 'Beyond The Mysterious Beyond'. It was a time that came to be known to my people as 'The Great Departure'..." Briank sadly said.

"How did THIS come about?" Little Foot eagerly asked.

"Yes. What made you rainbow faces decide to leave and dissapear into 'Beyond The Mysterious Beyond'?" Ruby asked as well.

Briank smiled. "THAT is the most interesting part of the story. You see, it all started when..."

-----------------------------------

The taxi pulled up right in front of The United League of Nations building in downtown Metropolitania. The back seat door opened up to reveal the Ambassador from the nation known as "Kanata", which was located north of the United Laurentian States. He was carrying a briefcase that contained some of his important documents. His name was Benak Boudreau-Gallant. He had been the Kanatian Ambassador to The United League of Nations for almost three years now. Although he was a francescan, he spoke the language of Britania very well.

He had taken the cab from his downtown luxury appartment this morning. An appartment that he shared with his wife and two kids. He hurried up to the building. He was to attend an important meeting with his fellow ambassadors of other nations this morning, and he didn't want to be late. On this occasion, he wore the white collar and black square necktie around his neck, as well as the white ankle socks around the bottom part of his legs. The same as many of the rainbow face politicians like him.

The two guards at the front doors simply nodded to him as he walked on through. At the security booth, he showed his pass to the officer on duty, who simply waived him on through.

Near the Council chambers, his associate was waiting for him.

"Good morning, _monsieur."_ he said in greeting.

"'Morning." the Ambassdor nodded. "What's our status?"

"They are just about ready to start the closing arguments."

Ambassador Gallant nodded. "How's it look?"

"Not good, _monsieur._ The motion could very well pass today."

Ambassdor Gallant sighed, then nodded. "All right. I won't change my opinion about it, though."

His associate nodded in return. "Understood, _monsieur."_

Then they both entered the chamber room.

The Council Chambers to The United League of Nations was a large amphitheater style room with a large round table in the middle where all of the Nation Ambassadors and their associates sat. Ambassador Gallant and his associate could both see that everybody was eyeing them. They were obviously waiting for the both of them to take their respective seats so things could get under way. They both noticed that several media reporters and camera crews were there to document what could very well be a landmark vote to determine the future of their less civilized Saurian brethren.

It was only when they both took their seats at the section that showed their home country's name that the Council President took up the gavel and banged it a few times to bring the meeting to order. He stood up to speak. "Now that we are all here, we can begin."

He sat back down and read from some papers that were at his desk. "The item on the agenda today is the final vote to pass or reject The Wild Life Preservation Act, a motion that was proposed by our very own resident Ambassador of the United Laurentian States." The President said as he nodded towards his colleague, who smiled and nodded in return. "But before the vote is to take place, I will hear closing arguments."

The Ambassador from Britania was the first to stand. "Well I, for one, think it's a great idea! With this Act, all of the non-civilized Saurians will be moved to reservations where they will be provided with everything they need to survive. It will also allow us to care for them and watch over them more easily than we can now. I congratulate the United Laurentian States Ambassador for putting forth this motion."

Nods of concurrence from the other Nations' Ambassadors sitting around the table were visible; except for the Ambassador from Kanata, who shook his head.

As soon as the Ambassador from Britania sat down, he stood up. "I have to disagree with my colleague from Britania, as well as any other of my fellow Ambassadors who think that this motion is a solution to all of the problems the non civilized Saurians are currently having. In my country, and especially in my home province of Acadia, we have lived side by side with non civilized Saurians for many generations! We speak the same language, share in the same customs and traditions, even my own children have had friends and playmates who were non civilized Saurians! It doesn't make sense to me that you would want to force them to relocate onto reservations and preserves, and basically strip them of their freedoms!"

"What are you talking about!?" the United Laurentian States Ambassador exclaimed as he stood up. "We're not... stripping them of their freedoms! They'll still have the same freedoms they have now..."

"Except they won't be able to travel where they want to, or come and go as they please, like we do. If you don't call that 'stripping them of their freedoms', I don't know WHAT you call it! Are they gonna need special permission just to go to the BATHROOM, by The Primal Force's sake!!?"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" the Council President exclaimed as he rose from his seat. "This senseless bickering will accomplish nothing!" He glared at both Ambassadors as he said this. The Laurentian States diplomat sat back down immediately. He then turned his attention to the diplomat from Kanata. "Do you have anything more to add, AMBASSADOR Gallant!?"

After a few moments, the Ambassador shook his head. "I've said all there is to say." Then he said back down.

"GOOD! Does anybody have anything further to add?" The Council President asked of all the other gathered Ambassadors.

After gazing around at the silent diplomats, he spoke again. "Then I put it to a vote. All those in favour of passing the motion, please raise your hand."

Every Ambassador, except one, raised their hand.

"And those against?"

Ambassador Gallant was the only one to raise his hand.

"On a majority of 19 to 1, the motion is approved! The Wildlife Preservation Act will be initiated immediately." He banged his gavel on the table.

As soon as the Council President had banged his gavel, the Kanatan Ambassador grabbed his briefcase, let loose a few curses to his colleagues, stood up and stormed out of the room, his associate hurrying along behind him.

--------------------------------------

"Wait!" Little Foot interrupted. "Let me get this straight: You're saying that this... Wildlife Preserrrr... whatever... Act... was the absolute worst thing the rainbow faces did to the flattooths???"

Briank nodded. "Not just the flattooth, but the sharptooth as well."

"I don't get it!" Little Foot exclaimed in confusion. "What was so bad about it!? What's a 'reservation', anyway!?"

"Think of it as a small patch of land set aside for all flatooths." Yolanda answered.

"Now imagine that all of the flattooths and the sharptooths living in the area were all moved to that small patch of land that would be their new home where all of their everyday needs would be provided, and we rainbow faces would want for nothing in return." Briank said.

"That doesn't sound so bad." Little Foot said.

"NOW imagine something like this: Say you wanna go to The Mysterious Beyond, but because you now live on a reservation, you need to ask for a special permission to go there. THEN imagine a rainbow face telling you 'No! You can't go there... EVER!'" Yolanda said.

Cera humpfed. "That's nothing! Our parents tell us not to go into The Mysterious Beyond all the time!"

Briank nodded. "But when you get caught, you get punished. Right?"

"Yes! Our parents always punish us whenever we do something were not supposed to! Yep, yep, YEP!" Ducky said.

"Well, the same thing happened whenever a flattooth or a sharptooth ventured outside of the reserve without permission." Briank smiled.

"I see." Little Foot nodded somberly.

"But not all flatooth and sharptooth who were to be relocated to these preserves would go willingly. Some of them resisted the relocation. Then one day..."

-------------------------------------

In Petrograd, a city located in The Confederation of Independant Prusselian States, which was once called The Union of Socialist Prusselian Republics, but called Prussia not so long ago, there was a large commotion going on. It seems this nation west of Europa and north of The Asiatics was constantly changing it's name with each new government that came to power.

The day was quite gloomy in this forgotten city just south of Moscovia, the nation's capital. For the third consecutive day, a large crowd of non civilized Saurians had gathered in the town square. Their only agenda: Protest the forced relocation order their government instigated following the signing of The Wildlife Preservation Act a short time ago.

These long time residents of the area vehemently refused their orders to leave their homes where they lived side by side with the civilized rainbow faces for years in favour of new residences in the "Wildlife Preserves" just outside of town.

The local police force was out again in full riot gear trying to keep the peace. They formed a barrier between the town square and the downtown district in order to keep anybody from breaking through and causing havoc to the rainbow face owned stores and shops in that district.

For the first two days, other than a few minor skirmishes with police, things were peaceful enough. But today, things would change. The same Parasaur male took up the megaphone and shouted the same phrases to his fellow citizens and to the police. Phrases like "We have our rights to live here! We will not allow you and your government to take them away! This is only the beginning! Pretty soon, the Prussian government will take away YOUR rights as well! YOU! The members of The Municipal Polizia, and those of your families! YOU WILL SEE!! It will be like the old Common Unionist Regime! YOU WILL SEE!!"

The riot police maintained their barricade, despite the occasional stone toss from the two footed Saurians, but there were a few Apatosaurian and Tricerians there. It usually took quite a few tear gas grenades and rubber bullets to subdue those behemoths; but those were in limited supply here today. The Police Kommizer's intention was to make the protesters believe they were stocked full of what it took to subdue them, should they get violent, and hope that the non civilized Saurians didn't call their bluff. But just in case they did, he had a backup plan.

While the crowd of protesters continued their chanting, from a short distance away, the Commander of the nearby Army detachment was looking at the scene through his Army issue binoculars from atop one of the tanks that were lined up. The Police Commizer had contacted him the night before, and told him to have his male soldiers and weapons at the ready here this morning in case things got too out of hand.

He noticed that there were several media organizations lined up on the sidewalks filming everything and making their news reports. He sighed as he thought of how, under the old Common Union Socialist regime, these newscaster would've been barred from even entering the city. But after The Perestroikan Revolution 20 years ago, these newspeople and their cameras were free to go anywhere they pleased inside Prussia.

His Second in Command came up to join him atop his tanks. After exchanging salutes, he asked. "Comrad Commandant, what is the situation?"

The Commander, Yakov Koralenko, looked through his binoculars one more time. "Still as noisy as ever, comrad, but no more.. for now... but I have a feeling that something terrible is going to happen here today."

The Second in Command, a Lieutenant Commander by rank, grew nervous. "But if we are called to action, with the authority to use deadly force." He looked back towards the crowd of protesters. "There could be females and children in that crowd!"

"That is the burden we must bear, comrad Lieutenant!" He glared at his underling. "You will carry out your orders as instructed! Understood!?"

"Yes, comrad Commander!" Then he went back to his post after exchanging salutes.

The Commander picked up his walkie talkie. "Comrad Kommizer, what is the situation?" he asked into it.

"Not good!" the gritty voice said through it. "They're massing for something! They may try to break through our line and head for the downtown districts."

"We'll be ready for them!" He replied. "Just give us the necessary authorization, and we'll take care of them for you."

"Understood!" replied the Kommizer's voice. "Stand by for further orders."

Back in the town square, the protesters were preparing to take action. Several three horned Tricerians were lining up with a few Apatosaurians. The riot police were growing more and more nervous. The Kommizer, standing behind his male police force, shouted orders to them. "STAND YOUR GROUND! STAND YOUR GROUND! FIRE YOUR GRENADES AND BULLETS, IF YOU HAVE TO, BUT STAND YOUR GROUND!!" he screamed to be heard over the din.

From atop his podium, the leader of the protesters shouted "STAND READY! Let's send a message to them!!" into his megaphone. When all was ready, he shouted "CITIZENS... ATTAAAACK!!!" he shouted, and the Tricerians and Apatosaurians started charging up to the lines of riot police. The smaller two footed and four footed Saurians ran in behind. Several flyers also took to the air carrying large boulders, barrels, and other objects, and were headed towards the Army ranks.

"FIRE!!!" the Kommizer ordered his males, who let loose a volley of tear gas grenades and rubber bullets towards the charging Saurians. A few were felled by the onslaught of artillery, but through sheer strength in numbers, they were able to break through the lines of riot police. Many police males were either impaled by the Tricerians or trampled to death by the Apatosaurians, and several fights broke out among police and smaller two footers, and they used their knight sticks and tasers to try to subdue some more of the rioters, both two footers and four footers alike.

But many police, seeing that the situation was hopeless, ran back towards the safety of the Army lines. "IT'S USELESS! THERE ARE TOO MANY OF THEM!" the Kommizer shouted into his walkie talkie. "WAIT 'TIL OUR MALES ARE OUT OF THE WAY, THEN USE WHATEVER FORCE IS NECESSARY TO SUBDUE THEM. YOU HAVE MY FULL AUTHORIZATION!"

"Understood, comrad!" the Commander said in acknowledgment as he ducked from the volley of falling projectiles dropped on him and his soldiers from the airborne flyers. It was only after he saw several soldiers get crushed by the falling debris, and a couple of tanks get knocked out by large boulders that he issued the appropriate orders to prepare for battle, and to use the whatever force was necessary to drive back the protesters.

Once the entire squadron of riot police were safely behind the tanks, Commander Koralenko gave the order to open fire. Some tanks let loose a volley of exploding shells at the charging Tricerians and Apatosaurians, which felled them instantly; while others shot at the flyers up in the sky. Some of them were taken out under the volley of exploding shell fire and fell to the ground hard. Then the soliders fired their machine guns at the approaching crowd of two footers and smaller four footers. Many went down under the shower of deadly bullets, while those who didn't get hit started running the opposite way, screaming for their lives.

Commander Koralenko ordered his male soldiers to start charging forward in order to prevent any of the protesters from running away. They fired their rifles at any running targets they acquired, felling them instantly, while the tanks moved up to follow them from behind.

Then the Commander saw something to his left that made him take action. It was a camera crew filming everything the soldiers were doing against the unarmed protesters. "HEY!" he shouted at them as he got down from his command tank. "Turn that camera off! TURN THAT CAMERA OFF IMMEDIATELY!"

But the reporter kept ordering his camera crew to keep filming. "I said: Turn that camera OFF!!" Commander Koralenko ordered as he shoved the reporter to the ground, then grabbed for the camera. When the crew resisted, he simply gave the male nearest to him a huge knee to the gut which made him double over. Then he grabbed a rifle from a nearby soldier and hit the camera operator with the butt of it, knocking him to the ground...

---------------------------------------

"... And that was what the world saw through their television sets." Briank said. "It was a dark day in our history that became known as 'The Petrograd Massacre'".

"That is SOOO sad!" Ducky commented, her facial features showing that sadness.

"Those rainbow face were SO mean!" Petrie sobbed. "Why did they have to kill all those poor flattooth!?"

"You must understand that the people in charge felt they had no other choice!" Yolanda said. "If those rampaging Saurians were not stopped, they could've gone on to kill many more innocent rainbow faces than they really did, and many more rainbow faces would've died from their hands."

"But it wasn't just flattooth who were out protesting that day, there were quite a few sharptooth amongst the crowd as well." Briank said.

"There were?" Chomper said.

Briank smiled and nodded. "There was a time when flattooth and sharptooth lived together side by side, and called each other 'friend'".

Chomper flashed a toothy smile at the notion that he wasn't first sharptooth EVER to start a friendship with some flattooths.

"How do you know all this? About what happened in this Peetro... grade city, or whatever?" Little Foot asked.

Briank smiled again. "From an old newsreel footage I have on one of the historical tapes I own."

"Were there any females and children among the crowd of flattooths?" Little Foot asked.

Briank nodded. "A few... I haven't seen any of them get killed, though, in that newsreel footage; but that doesn't mean that all of their lives were spared. Some may have died at the hands of the soliders."

"Funny thing, too!" Yolanda added. "On our ship, up there, in Beyond The Mysterious Beyond, our navigator, Pavel Koralenko, is actually a direct descendant of that Commander Koralenko of the Prussian Army."

Cera humpfed. "So he's got the blood of many flattooths' lives on his claws!"

Both rainbow faces glared at Cera. "We've looked past the mistakes our ancestors made..." Briank began.

"...and all this happened a long long time ago... We no longer hold the descendants accountable for the actions of their forebears resulting in this terrible act..." Yolanda finished.

After letting all this sink in for a few moments, Briank continued with his story.

"Anyway, following The Petrograd Massacre, many more protests took place throughout the world, resulting in more chaos and the death of many, on both sides. Little by little, our society began to deteriorate.

"But this part of the story focuses more on an unexpected chance encounter that happened one day..."

-----------------------------------

In the Kanatian city of Bytown, which was that nation's capital, winter time had hit especially hard this year. There were calls to rename the city Othalla, which was an ancient flattooth name meaning "City By the Big Lake". It was, in fact, located on the shores of Lake Onkorio; which was one of the five major freshwater lakes that made up the geography of the area. But in light of recent events, and public sentiment towards the uncivilized Saurians, and proposal was summarily dropped.

A snowstorm was hitting the city pretty hard today, but that didn't stop a lone male rainbow face from braving the cold and snow to run an errand.

He decides to stop in his favourite tavern for a drink on his way home. On a day like today, the place was deserted, except for another male rainbow face sitting at the bar and nursing his own drink.

The bartender, recognizing him as a regular, smiled at him as he walked in the door, shaking the snow off of him, and removing his protective winter gear.

"Evening, Jink!" the barkeep said to him in greeting.

"Hey, Sal!" the male replied. "WHOO! It's one heck of a storm out there!"

"Tell me about it! Not many people came in here today, I can tell you that." Sal commented. "What'll it be?" he then asked.

"The usual."

"Sokolove Brandy on the rocks?"

"You got it!" the patron smiled.

Moments later, the bartender game him his drink. "There you go!" he said with smile.

"AAH! Nothin' like a good Saurian brandy to warm you up!" he commented as he took a sip from his glass.

The bartender smiled at him. "Just hollar if you need anything else." He said before dissapearing into the kitchen.

The male rainbow face then broke out his newspaper and set it on the counter to read. It was so quiet that he could hear the wind howling outside, as well as the blowing snow hitting the window pane.

As he took another sip of his Saurian brandy, he glanced at the male sitting next to him. He did a double take as he began to read his newspaper.

"Hey! I KNOW you!! Where have I seen you before?" he said to the other male.

"Uh oh..." the unknown male sighed as he took another sip of his beer.

"NOW I remember!! You're Benak Boudreau-Gallant! The former Ambassador to The United League of Nations!!"

The male said nothing.

"This is some COINCIDENCE!!" Jink smiled brightly. "Who'd've thought I'd meet the greatest politician in Kanatian history... HERE... in this dainty little bar in downtown Bytown!!"

"Yeah... Quite a coincidence!" The former Ambassador said sarcastically.

"WOW! It's quite an honour to meet you, sir! Let me shake your hand!" The male beamed as he held his hand out to the other male sitting next to him.

"OH, NO!" the former Ambassador said in refusal. "You don't wanna shake MY hand after what happened to ME!"

"ARE YOU KIDDING???" Jink was dumbfounded. "Thanks to you, and your refusal to follow suit with the rest of world, we were the last country in the world to instigate The Wildlife Preservation Act for our own non civilized Saurian citizens!"

"True!" the former Ambassador admitted. "Until worldwide pressure and the threat of an economic embargo made our government change it's mind..."

Jink nodded in acceptance. "You have a point... but at least we held out THAT long. That has to count for SOMETHING, doesn't it?"

"For the rest of the country, maybe... but not for ME... My refusal to comply was the absolute worst thing I ever did!"

"Come on! Because of what you did, you're a national HERO!" Jink said proudly.

The former Ambassador humpfed. "Some HERO! After the Act was passed, whatever non civilized Saurian friends we had started alienating us, just because me and my family were 'one of them', or 'the oppressors'. I had to resign my commission at The United League of Nations in shame. Then my wife left me... took the kids with her... I haven't seen them in YEARS... And now, all I have left is this glass of Moloran Kanatian ale draft. Here's lookin' at you, kid!" he said as he raised the glass he had in his hand and took another long draught from it.

"Well... I still have ONE thing left: That government pension that's due back to me. There should be enough there to keep me going for the rest of my natural life."

Jink looked nervous. "Uhh... I'm not so sure. Take a look!" he said as he handed the former Ambassador the newspaper he had.

There, on the front page, in big bold letters, the following phrases could be read: STOCK MARKET COLLAPSES! INVESTMENTS LOSE 75% OF THEIR VALUE IN JUST ONE WEEK! ECONOMY IN RUINS!!

"OOOOH, NOOO!!!" the former Ambassador cried. "_Maudite pile d'oeufs POURRIS!!"_ he swore in his native Franciscan.

The bartender came storming out of the kitchen. "What's all the raucus!?" he asked.

"He just read the headlines!" Jink said.

"Oh. Just found out he lost his entire pension fund, eh?" the bartender said.

Jink nodded somberly. "Obviously!"

The bartender sprang into action, knowing exactly what a male like him would need at this moment. "Here you go, buddy! It's on the house!!" he said in comfort as he poured the now sobbing male another draft of his favourite beverage.

"Thank you." the male sniffed as he dried his eyes with one of the napkins that was lying on the counter.

"Hey! Don't mention it!" the bartender smiled as he patted the male on the back.

After he took another long draught, he then motioned the other two males nearer to him. He then said in a low voice. "But you know what? I'm really not that worried... You see? Our government and The United Laurentian States have been secretly building space shuttles, space stations and such in preparation for an eventual mass exodus for all of us, should things get too out of hand with the non civilized Saurians. We'd leave this planet, perserve our race, and turn everything over to them to do with as they please. And the way things are going, this 'Great Departure' will happen sooner than anyone expects! Mark my words, gentlemales! Make no mistake!! It WILL happen!"

---------------------------------

"This grand project offered a glimmer of hope for our people..." Briank said.

"... And 'hope' was all we had to hold on to..." Yolanda continued.

"A funny fact, though: That male who accosted the former Ambassador was my own direct descendant!"

"Really?" Ducky exclaimed in surprise.

Briank smiled and nodded. "His story of that fateful encounter that night was passed down through the generations of my own family, because it was thought to be somehow important that we know and remember how accurate his then prediction of what was to come..."

"So how did it take before what that rainbow face said about your Great Departure came true?" Little Foot asked.

"Not long..." Briank smiled.

"...For the uncivilized Saurians grew more and more merciless." Yolanda continued. "It was at the point where they would not hesitate to kill any rainbow face they came across. We literally went down from a population of millions to just a few tens of thousands, until finally..."

------------------------------------

Whatever was left of the rainbow face race after nearly ten years of fighting for their lives were gathered at Cape Karnoval in the southern Laurentian state of Floridia. All day, space shuttle after space shuttle took off heading for the gigantic International Space Station that literally took ten years to build and perfect in order to allow their entire race to survive in the vacuum of space.

The United Laurentian States President and his family were the first to leave on the very first shuttlecraft that took off for the space station way up in orbit. Then came the Laurentian States High Council, the Ambassadors of The United League of Nations and whatever other world leaders that had not yet been killed at the hands of non civilized Saurians. The ordinary citizens were the last to leave on the remaining shuttles.

Soldiers kept a vigil around the launching platforms, making sure the non civilized Saurians gathered at the barricades didn't "overstep their bounds".

Benak Boudreau-Gallant, the defunct Kanatian United League of Nations Ambassador was the last to get on board the final shuttlecraft that was to launch for the International Space Station. Amidst the din of cries, jeers, screams and protests, he was escorted to the shuttlecraft.

Just as he was about ready to board, the gathered crowd of non civilized Saurians started chanting "Na, na, naaaa, na! Hey, hey, HEY! GOODBYE!!" over and over again. Just as he reached the threshold of the launch bay doors, he turned around, glared at the chanting crowd, and gave them the finger with both of his hands; which prompted a lot of BOOOs from the non civilized Saurians. The last of the soldiers guarding the rainbow faces then followed the Kanatian inside the tunnel leading to the shuttle after ensuring that no non civilized Saurians followed him in, shutting the doors behind him.

Amidst numerous cheering noises, the non civilized Saurians then left the launching area to gather a few miles away to watch the last shuttle launch. It was a grand celebration filled with cheering as they watched the shuttle launch into space. Never again will they be oppressed by the civilized rainbow faces! They were finally free!! It was a happy day indeed!!

--------------------------------------

"Humpf!" Cera would say. "Because of what you rainbow faces did to our kind, you got what you deserved!" She had a look of anger on her facial features.

Briank and Yolanda smiled lightly. "Well... you may be right..." Briank admitted. "Maybe we DID deserve it back then..."

"But whatever animosity that was directed towards us was long since forgotten, based on how well we blended into that group of wanderers the last time we were here." Yolanda said.

"'Blended in???' HA! I thought you stuck out like a sore paw!" Cera blurted out.

"That's YOUR opinion, dearie!" Yolanda retorted.

"Okay... So you rainbow faces left for 'Beyond The Mysterious Beyond' by a means I still don't quite understand... but leave you did..." Little Foot said. "Were things really better off for us after you left?"

Briank nodded. "I'm sure it was... at first..."

"But after a short time, things were probably hard for them..." Yolanda.

"Most parts of the story from this point are based on pure speculation, as we weren't actually there to see anything happen. But it must've been something like..."

-----------------------------------

The crowd of Saurians had gathered outside the supermarket. Many of them had not eaten for days. They tried breaking the windows to get in, but found it impossible, as they were made of shatterproof glass. Even the heaviest cinderblock thrown by the most powerful Apatosaurian was still not enough to shatter the glass! The place was more secure than Fort Cox!

But they were more than determined to get in! They were hungry, and they needed food! The leader of the crowd got together two of the biggest and strongest Tricerians he could find, and ordered them to break down the doors to the building.

The two male Tricerians didn't hesitate for a moment! After a few tries, they were finally able to break through! No sooner had they broken down the doors, the alarm sounded; but this didn't deter the crowd! They knew there no more police around to stop them! Even if they're were, they'd dispose of them quickly enough! They were hungry and desperate enough for that!

While everybody raided whatever they could off of the shelves, a Hadrosaur male who knew something about electronics disabled the alarm system. The really loud bell suddenly grew silent, much to everyone's hypersensitive earholes' relief!

The vegeterians took whatever they could from the produce and bakery sections while the meat eaters took care of the butcher and deli sections. Although some of the meat, fruits, vegetables and breads were stale or slightly rotting, they didn't care! Sustenance was the only thing on their minds, despite the risks of getting sick from the spoilage!

There were a few more such supermarkets in the city they would raid in the next few days. After that, nobody knew exactly what they would do. They were starving! What would happen next after all of the food was gone?

---------------------------------------

"And that would've like this for the first few weeks or so..." Briank said. "Eventually, when all of those food sources were gone, they would move out into the forested areas..."

"The flatooths would gather fruits and vegetables off of the trees and gardens, and eventually move to eating tree stars, while the sharptooth would've hunted mammals and birds..." Yolanda continued.

"This would've gone on for a few decades at least..." Briank said, picking up where Yolanda left off. "While the flattooth found plentiful food sources all around, the sharptooth's food sources grew more and more scarce... Eventually, the inevitable happened..."

----------------------------------------

The family of Hadrosaurians were running down the deserted street located in a town who's name was long since forgotten. They were all in a state of panic.

"You think we lost them?" the female Hadrosaurian asked her husband.

"I think so..." the husband replied. "But you never know with these fast biters. They're tricky!"

"Why don't they just leave us ALONE!!?" the female whined.

"...Because they're hungry and desperate, dear!" the male replied. "After all these years, they've forgotten how to talk to us! They only see us as FOOD now!"

The female whined again. "What are we gonna DO!?"

The distant roar of the fast biter made them even more nervous.

"We have to hide!" the male said, looking around. "THERE!" he said, pointing to a rusted old car that used to be driven by the rainbow faces that have long since departed from this world.

"It's still pretty exposed!" the female commented. "You think that will really protect us?"

"We have no other choice! It's dark now. Maybe they won't see us. And at worst, the things looks solid enough. Maybe it'll keep them out. Come on!"

With that, he moved his family inside the rusted old car. It was quite dark now! The sun had set a few hours ago. Although the windows were still on the car, and allowed to see inside, they were hoping the fast biters could not see in the dark and just pass on by without ever noticing them cower inside.

"Momma, I'm scared!" the young female Hadrosaurian cried. Her younger brother was sobbing in the backseat.

"Quiet!!" the male shushed. "Everybody stand perfectly still!"

"You really think they won't see us, dear!?" the female asked.

"I hope so..." the male sighed. "Here they come!"

Both children were whimpering out of fear.

The two fast biters were walking up the street, looking around and sniffing the air, hoping to find their prey.

Although they've lost the ability to speak the leaf eater language, they still retained their own native language.

"_They're close by! I can smell them!" _one male said to the other.

"_Over there!" _the male said as he tapped the other on the shoulder. _"See that rusted old car!?" _he said, pointing with his jaw. _"They're inside! They're standing perfectly still! They think we can't see them!" _he smiled.

The other male rumbled laughter. _"How little they know us!" _He sneered.

It was a well known fact that meat eaters had excellent night vision. The meat eaters themselves knew this from the day they were born, but that knowledge has long since been lost to the leaf eaters.

"_Okay! Here's what were gonna do: We'll walk up a few feet, pretending we don't see them. Then, when we're close enough, we'll pounce on 'em!" _the slightly larger male said to his companion.

"_You really think we can break into that thing?" _the smaller male asked.

"_Of course! It's flimsy enough. I'll take the right side, you take the left. When I count to 'three', we'll attack."_

"_Gotcha!" _the smaller male nodded.

Then both males did as planned. They casually walked up a few more feet, appearing aloof, just sniffing the air. Meanwhile, the frightened Hadrosaurians were laying as motionless as possible inside the car. The children tried to control their whimpering, but it was hard.

"_Okay, ready?" _the larger male began. _"One... two.... THREE!"_

With that, both fast biter males sprang into action. The frightened Hardosaurians inside the car let out their screams of panic, and moved to get out; but the well laid out plan of the fast biters made it impossible for them to escape. The rusted doors of the car came off with ease, and both males moved in for the kill. The screams of all four Hadrosaurians were eventually silenced as they all succumbed to the fast biters' deadly attack. Then the cries of triumph of the fast biters could be heard as they celebrated their successful hunt. Indeed, they would eat well tonight!

-----------------------------------

"That is so terrible!" Ducky sadly said.

"And SCARY!" Petrie said, shaking in fear.

Spike let out a sad cry.

"So you're saying it was the sharptooths' hunger that made them stop being friends with the flattooth, and eat them instead?" Chomper asked.

Briank nodded. "That's right."

"Oh." Chomper said as he got a sad look on him.

Yolanda, noticing this, reassured Chomper by saying. "But you are the first sharptooth in countless generations we have seen that has remembered the old ways, and has made strides to rekindling that ancient frienship with the flattooth. We find this very encourageing!"

Chomper's face lit up. "Really?"

Both rainbow faces smiled and nodded. "You are a very special sharptooth, my young friend!" Briank would say.

"I am???" Chomper exclaimed.

"But you can't give Chomper all the credit..." Little Foot said.

"Oh?" both rainbow faces questioned.

"Yes! We found Chomper when he was just an egg!" Ducky proudly said. "And we taught him to be nice! Yep, yep, YEP!"

"I guess he would've turned out differently if we hadn't've found him while he was still in his egg." Little Foot said.

"And after I got separated from my parents while in The Mysterious Beyond, and I met Ruby, and she spoke about The Great Valley where we can find sanctuary and protection from other sharptooths; like Red Claw and his fast biters; I remembered all of my old flattooth friends, and was eager to see them again!" Chomper showed his teeth as he smiled.

Briank smiled in return. "We rainbow faces have an old saying: Everything happens for a reason. Maybe you were MEANT to find young Chomper's egg, and teach him your ways of friendship and acceptance..."

Yolanda smiled in return. "Yes! So that he could maybe teach other sharptooth he meets the ways of the flattooth; and they would, in turn, see them as friends rather than prey."

"I don't know about that!" Chomper began. "I've tried teaching sharptooth how to be nice already, and almost ended up being KILLED in the process!"

"Perhaps they were not ready or willing to listen..." Briank began.

"...Or to be taught..." Yolanda continued. "But as you grow, and become more persuasive, I'm sure you'll be able to teach those same sharptooth how to be friends with the flattooth..."

"That's exactly what we were telling him!" Ruby said.

Briank nodded. "But he has to make his own choice in the matter. Although a destiny has been laid out for him, he has to decide if he wants to pursue it or not..."

Chomper beamed. "Thanks, guys! That's real encourageing!"

Yolanda smiled at the young Tyrannosaur. "You're quite welcome!"

"But to continue with the story..." Briank began. "As the years and decades went by, and the rift between the flatooths and sharptooth grew ever larger, many flatooths found safety in what was left of our large cities..."

Yolanda continued. "... but that safety was not made to last, however. Eventually..."

-----------------------------------

The male flyer made his way South towards home. He had travelled a long ways to find the best tree stars for his family that he now carried in his clawed feet and beak. When he saw the abandoned building that made up the home he shared with his mate and their two offspring, he flew even faster. He was anxious to get home!

He swooped down towards the space that led to his nest. It was a space that once had windows and a sliding door that led to the outside balcony. The balcony was still there- and he and his family occasionally used it to warm themselves in the sun and stretch their wings- but sliding door and windows was long since gone. He passed through the opening with ease, and landed just in front of the nest.

"Hi, honey!" his wife said as she exchanged beak rubs with her mate while their two young children cheered as they ran up to the food their father brought home for them. "We were beginning to worry!"

"It's getting harder and harder to find good tree stars!" the male flyer said.

Then they heard the same sound they've heard over the past few days. A loud creaking sound that reminded them of a tree branch buckling. The children stopped munching on the tree stars and looked around in fear.

The home they were living in and made their nest once belonged to the rainbow faces, who had long since abandoned the numerous structures that was in and around the area, and left the planet. The flyers knew not where they went, nor did they really care! All they cared about was feeding their children! The dwelling they lived in had several pieces of rainbow face furniture that was falling in ruins. They could easily guess what those pieces of furniture were used for, but they had no need for them, nor did they pay them any heed.

They had seen several other similar structures fall down to the ground, but the one they stayed in stood the test of time. They sensed, however, that that could change any moment now.

"It's getting worse!" the male flyer said. "Maybe we should leave. Move closer to the forest, where getting tree stars won't be so long a trip."

"And risk our children getting caught by those meat eating sharptoothed??? I don't think that's such a good idea." the female replied.

"Honey, please be reasonable! This whole structure could fall to the ground any moment now! I don't wanna be in here when it does..."

"Oh, you're talking nonsense!" the female scoffed in anger. "Just because OTHER structures went down doesn't mean that this one would..."

Her sentence was cut short by a large rumbling sound, and the whole building started to shake.

"She's gonna go!!" the male exclaimed. "We need to get out NOW!!!"

"HURRY, CHILDREN!!" the female cried as she pushed her young brood to the balcony.

As soon as they took to the air, the building started caving in on itself. They looked back and saw it fall completely to the ground in a cloud of dust. There would be nothing left but a pile of debris and rubble!

"We HAVE to move out to the forest, honey!" the male told his mate. "Eventually, all of these structures are going to fall apart, like that one just did. It's not safe here any more! I'd rather take my chances with the meat eaters than die under a pile of rubble like that!"

The female sighed. "All right! Whatever you say..."

With that, they headed off to the distant forest to find a new home.

---------------------------------

"...And that was how all of the flatooth came to live in the forests and jungles of the world, like your Great Valley..." Yolanda said.

"Although life in 'Beyond The Mysterious Beyond' was hard for us, at first, we've adapted..." Briank said.

"... Our species' population eventually grew to number in the hundreds of thousands, and we've developed survival methods and spaceships that were sophisticated enough to travel to neighbouring planets... and even to what you call the 'big silver circle'... and establish colonies..." Yolanda said.

"...Although we swore never to return to this planet, we DID return, at some point..." Briank said.

"A few centuries after The Great Departure, some of our Scientists decided to come back to the planet to see how the flatooths and sharptooths have come along since we left..." Yolanda said.

"Yes! And that was when..." Briank began the next leg of the story.

-------------------------------------

The rudimentary shuttlepod landed in the lush green forest. It was nighttime. They came down at night so that they couldn't be seen by anybody.

After it landed, a hatch opened up in the side of it, and a ramp extended to the ground. Out came two rainbow faces. They had scanning equipment with them, and they wore pure white spacesuits, which also acted as a biohazard and radiation suit. They were Scientists who were sent to conduct a field study of how the non civilized Saurians have progressed since they left the planet.

They were two males. The slightly smaller one pulled out his hand held scanner and began to take readings. A bio scanner wasn't the only thing they were given, though. They each also carried a plasma pistol at their hips, in case they were attacked by either a sharptooth or an angry flattooth. They eventually found that a plasma rifle was a more effective weapon than an ordinary rifle or machine gun that shot bullets, and it could be set to kill, or merely stun.

"The largest population concentration is located... five kilometers in that direction." he said to the other through his built in radio transmitter as he pointed to the South West.

"All right, let's head out! We should be there by dawn." his slightly larger colleague said.

"Wouldn't we risk detection?" the other male asked.

"That's a risk we'll have to take!" he said in reply. "The Science Academy wants us to do a bio survey, so that's what we're gonna do! Keep your eyes peeled for sharptooth."

"Gotcha!"

And then they headed out.

--------------------------------------

A short time later, the duo arrived at the valley where the flattooths lived. They hid up on a hill overlooking the valley while they were conducting their scans.

"There sure are a lot of them!" the smaller male said. "We're talking at least a few thousand! All different kinds, too!!"

"No sign of civilization?" the larger male asked.

The smaller male checked his scanner. "None."

"Good!" the larger male asked. "The Science Academy'll be glad to hear that! If these non civilized flattooths developed like we did, we'd probably have another 'Great Departure' on our hands!"

"Hmmm..." the smaller male mused. Then he saw something on his right. "OH, DAMMIT!" he cried.

"What!?" the larger male asked as he turned and saw what his colleague saw.

There, standing a few feet away from him, was a swimmer female. She saw holding an odd shaped fruit in her hands, which she dropped once she saw the two strange creatures in front of her. Then she ran off towards the valley screaming in fright.

"We've been spotted!" the smaller male said.

The larger male sighed. "Well, I think we'd better go down and introduce ourselves to them..."

The smaller male looked at him in confusion. "Do you really think that's wise?"

"No." the larger male answered. "But we'd might as well show them we're friendly..."

With that, they both got up and headed down towards the valley.

------------------------------------

The female swimmer was frantically telling all of the other flattooths of the two "strange white beings" she saw on the hill overlooking the valley. This made everyone whisper and talk about what it was she saw. Some thought they were unusual flattooths, others thought they were sharptooths, while others thought she was seeing things.

"There they are!!" she cried as she pointed.

Everybody whispered loudly as they saw the two white forms walking up towards them. The largest longneck among them, who was their leader, walked up to confront the unknown creatures coming towards them. He adopted a fierce look about him in an attempt to make the two white creatures think twice before approaching him and his fellow flattooths.

"You're trespassing on our territory!" he said in a booming voice.

This made the two rainbow faces stop. One of them put his arms up in air and said: "Please! We mean you no harm! We are your friends!"

"Who are you? WHAT are you? And what are you doing here?" the male longneck asked after a few moments.

"We are rainbow faces! We're just here to study you!" the larger male said.

"Rainbow faces???" The longneck said in puzzlement. "You don't look like any 'rainbow faces' I've heard of before..."

"What do your environmental scans show?" the larger male asked his companion.

"Nothing harmful to us!" was his reply when he examined his scanner.

The larger male nodded to the smaller one as if to say 'Okay'. Then they both took off their spacesuit helmets.

All of the gathered flattooths cried and gasped at what they saw. The longneck leader grew wide eyed in surprise.

"Now THAT'S more like the rainbow faces I've heard of in ancient stories..." he commented.

"Leader!" said a huge male threehorn as he approached. "I've heard stories about these flattooths as well. Seems they used to live here, and they were quite dominant, but then they had to leave quite suddenly."

The longneck leader nodded. "You said you were here to... study... us. Exactly what do you mean by that?"

"We were sent here to find out how far you've progressed. We needed to know if you were starting to become... civilized..." the larger rainbow face male replied.

"Civilized???" the longneck male asked in confusion.

The male rainbow face nodded. "That's right! We wanted to know if you've become like us back when we... used to live here..."

The longneck was even more confused. "I'm afraid I don't follow you."

The smaller male took over. "When we... first live here, we were very much like you... But then we became so smart that it allowed us to build many great things. Accomplish and achieve so much..."

"Yes... And we lived side by side with your kind in peace and harmony..." the larger male then said, continuing where his colleague left off. "But our arrogance and desire for supremacy made us do... terrible things... to you..."

"What kind of 'things'?" the male threehorn asked.

"We won't go into details. But because of what we did, your kind revolted against us..." the larger male began.

"...Which eventually made us leave..." The smaller male continued.

"... And since then, we've been keeping an eye on things. Mainly to make sure that none of the flattooth races develop the same kind of civilization we did, and end up making the same mistakes..." said the larger male.

"But so far, we saw no reason to intervene..." The smaller male completed with a smile.

The male longneck pondered as he took all this in. After a few moments of this, he spoke. "Listen, I don't know what were the 'great things' you've created; and I don't WANT to know, either. But whatever happened in the distant past... however way your kind treated us... has long since been forgotten..."

Both rainbow faces looked at each other, smiled and sighed. "That's a relief!" the larger one said. "And we'd prefer that things be kept that way. 'Ignorace is bliss', as some of us like to say..." They both smiled.

The longneck leader smiled in return. "Well, now that that's settled, would you like to stay for awhile? We are actually quite hospitable here, in the valley."

The larger rainbow face shook his head. "I'm sorry, but we can't stay..."

The smile dissapeared from the longneck's facial features. "You can't?"

The smaller one shook his own head. "We've collected all the information we need, and what you've said about not caring about or remembering what happened in the past is actually quite encourageing."

"Goodbye all!" the larger one said, waving his hand. "Nice to have met you!"

"So long!" the male longneck called to the departing rainbow faces.

Some other of the flattooths of the valley said their own goodbyes as the two rainbow faces left to return to their shuttlepod.

---------------------------------

"Well, I think that went over quite well! Don't you think?" The smaller male commented.

"Yes!" The larger one said as he nodded. "The Science Academy will be anxious to hear our report!"

Then they dissapeated into their shuttlepod, brought the ramp in, closed the side door and fired up the engine.

Many flattooths in the valley saw the shuttlepod rise up in the sky just as the bright circle was setting. They could also hear the roar of it's engine. They all stood in awe as the shuttlepod rose up in the sky and dissapeared.

------------------------------------

"... And that was how it was decided that our past on this planet should remain a secret!" Briank finished.

"You mean... to avoid what happened in the past from happening again?" Little Foot asked.

"Exactly!" Yolanda smiled.

"'Ignorance is bliss!'" Little Foot mused.

"I guess so..." Cera said.

"Of course, NOW, we observe the progress of your kind from up above... 'Beyond The Mysterious Beyond'... ready to intervene should things get too out of hand..." Briank said.

"And so far, we are quite please at seeing you remaining at this... primitive level..." Yolanda said.

"'Primitive' compared to our level..." Briank quickly added with a smile.

"So you're watching us... from 'Beyond The Mysterious Beyond'... in your.... staaarrr... what do you call them again???" Little Foot asked.

Yolanda giggled. "STARSHIPS."

Little Foot nodded. "Starships! They must be quite amazing..."

"They ARE quite an amazing feat of engineering!" Briank said with pride.

"Do you think it would be possible for us to see this 'starship' that brought you here!?" Little Foot enthusiastically asked.

All of Little Foot's friends cried in joy at the thought of visiting a rainbow face starship.

"Now that would be a serious breach of protocol!" Briank stated.

"Meaning WHAT?" Cera asked.

"MEANING that it would not be allowed!" Yolanda asked.

Whines of dissapointment went up among Little Foot's friends.

"But you said you'd tell us the whole truth!" Little Foot complained. "I think you should show us what this 'star ship' of yours is like, and why it is that you observe us from 'Beyond The Mysterious Beyond' as part of this 'whole truth'."

All of Little Foot's gang nodded and voiced their approval.

"I don't think that would be possible!" Briank stated. "Our Captain would NEVER approve!"

"Actually, dear... I think there might be a way we can pull this off..." Yolanda said.

"Really? How so?" Briank curiously asked.

"Well... Do you still have Mr. Kark's private communicator frequency?" Yolanda asked.

"I think so..." Briank nodded. "What do you have in mind?"

"Follow me..." Yolanda said as she led Briank to the shuttlepod's cockpit.

"Stay here, children!" He said as he followed his mate through the automatic sliding doors that led to the cockpit. The doors shut once they dissapeared inside.


	8. An Unexpected Visit

**CHAPTER 7**

**AN UNEXPECTED VISIT**

After the sliding doors to the cockpit closed behind them, Yolanda faced with kind eyes.

"I think we can convince Kark that it would be... logical... to bring these young Saurians aboard the Enterprise... Seeing as they want to know the WHOLE TRUTH. I think this could be INTERESTING and FUN at the same time!"

Briank thought it over for a moment, then nodded. "Agreed... But what about Captain Kirkland?" He asked.

"Well... You can convince Kark to keep this a secret from him. I think it might work. What say YOU, dear?"

Yolanda flashed her most seductive smile at him and rubbed his forearms up and down. Briank melted the instant he saw that smile. _She ALWAYS gets me every time she smiles like that! _He thought.

Briank smiled and nodded. "All right." he said softly.

"Thank you, dear!" She said with a twinkle on her eye.

He reached out and kissed her tenderly on the lips. When he relinquished, he found he couldn't tear his eyes away from her for a few moments.

"All right!" He finally said as he brought himself back down to earth. "Kark should be off duty now." And if I know him, he should be in his quarters meditating."

Yolanda groaned as she rolled her eyes. "He has GOT to get a life!"

Briank said nothing as he pressed the button from his cockpit station to open the necessary communicator channel.

* * *

On the Enterprise, inside Kark's quarters, he was sitting on a mattress laid out on the floor that he used for his meditations. He was in the traditional cross legged position his people adopted whenever they went into their meditation sessions. He had his eyes closed, and he maintained the normal breathing pattern of a Vulkadian in typical deep meditation.

The beeping sound of his communicator located on his work desk indicating an incoming message resonated throughout his quarters. This made him slowly open his eyes as he came out of his trance. He raised his left eyeridge in a questioning manner as the communicator beeped again. He slowly got up to move towards it.

It beeped a third time before he picked it up and opened it. "Yes?" he asked, holding it close to his mouth.

"Kark? This is Lieutenant Riggs..." came Briank's voice from the handheld device.

"Why are you contacting me on my private communicator frequency, Lieutenant?" Kark asked.

"We have a huge favour to ask you..." Briank said.

Kark raised his left eyeridge a second time. "What sort of favour?" he asked.

Briank cleared his throat. "Well... I don't quite know how to ask this of you, but... we have a bunch of young Saurians here with us, and we'd like to bring them aboard the Enterprise for a tour..."

Kark raised his eyeridges, as he always did, whenever someone surprised him the way Briank just did. "You must realize, Lieutenant, that this would be a serious breach of protocol. Not to mention The Primary Directive! Why would you want to do this?" he asked his Lieutenant.

Yolanda took over. "Well, Kark, they found out some things about us... and insisted we tell them the truth..."

"...Yes! And NOW, they won't let us be until we tell them 'the whole truth'." Briank completed. His parents always told him that 'honesty was the best policy', and he was being 'honest' with his commanding office right now.

"And this... 'whole truth'... includes letting them see the Enterprise?" Kark asked.

"Y..yes, sir!" Briank said nervously.

Kark raised his eyeridge again. "Lieutenant, I must insist that..."

"You can lecture us on the Court Martial charges LATER, Kark!" Briank interrupted. "Do us this one favour, and we'll never ask anything of you again!"

"It's the 'logical' thing to do, Kark." Yolanda said in turn.

Kark stayed silent for a few moments, then said into the communicator. "Very well, Lieutenant."

He could hear both rainbow faces breathe a huge sigh of relief. "Thank you, Kark! THANK YOU!" he heard Yolanda say with joy. "You won't regret this!"

"'Regret' is a rainbow face emotion which 'I' do not share..." Kark flatly stated.

Briank laughed. "Of course, Kark! We sometimes forget that you're a Vulkadian!"

Kark raised his eyeridge yet again. "Understood... I must point out, however, that the Captain would never approve..."

"Which is why we're counting on you to keep this a secret..." Briank said.

"Indeed!" Kark said, raising his eyeridges briefly. "All right. The Captain is scheduled to go off duty shortly. Knowing him, he shall retire to his quarters where he shall sleep for about 7 hours. I shall contact you then with further instructions."

"Thanks again, Kark! We owe you one... Briank out!" he said as he pressed the button on the cockpit console the close the communicator channel.

"You owe me SEVERAL, Lieutenant!" Kark said as he closed his communicator.

* * *

For the next hour or so, the rainbow faces, Little Foot and his gang were sitting aroung the table chatting about various things. The conversations mainly revolved around the day's occurences and the story the rainbow faces told. Little Foot asked other questions, which the rainbow faces did their best to answer.

Then the communicator Briank kept on the table beeped, he quieted everybody down as he took it up. "Yes?"

"Mr. Kark here. The Captain has just retired to his quarters. You may come aboard now..."

"Great!" Briank exclaimed into the communicator.

"I have also informed key personnel of you and your friends' impending arrival. They, in turn, shall inform their underlings. All will be made aware that we are not to tell of this to the Captain. It shall be... our little secret."

"Thank you, sir!" Briank smiled.

"We shall rendez-vous in the shuttle bay. Kark out!"

Once the communicator was closed, everyone cried in joy at the new adventuring they are going to do.

* * *

Little Foot and his gang were amazed at the speed and maneuverability of the shuttlepod as it took to the air. Briank showed off by doing a few high speed loops and tricky maneuvres that made everyone a little dizzy. Yolanda just rolled her eyes at her husband's antics.

When they reached space, the rainbow faces allowed Little Foot and his gang to view outside from the cockpit's two large windows. They were just in awe at the starry sky they saw.

"Look at all the stars!" Ruby commented. "I didn't know you could see so many stars from up here!"

"It's BEAUTIFUL!" Ducky said in awe.

"It sure is!" Chomper said, echoing her sentiment.

"There she is!" Briank said as he pointed towards his right. "The Enterprise!" He smiled.

"WOOOOOOWWWW..." Little Foot and Cera both said simultaneously, while everyone else just stood wide mouthed awe.

"That no look like giant egg with legs!" Petrie said when he finally regained his speech.

"It's not supposed to..." Briank said.

"The triangular wedge shape design is to make it travel more quickly through space..." Yolanda said.

"Space???" Little Foot asked in confusion.

Briank smiled. "Beyond The Mysterious Beyond!"

"So THAT'S what it's really called! SPACE!!!" Little Foot exclaimed, putting two and two together.

"The final frontier, kids! And you're in it!!" Briank happily said.

"What about the colour of it?" Cera asked in reference to the ship. "Does it have any special meaning?"

"Not really..." Yolanda said. "We simply chose that colour because... well... it's the same colour as the oceans of Terra."

"Terra?" Little Foot asked.

Briank chuckled. "The name we rainbow faces gave to your planet..."

"The oceans???" Cera asked.

"Big water!" Yolanda smiled.

"Oh." Cera nodded. "You rainbow faces sure have strange names for LOTS of things..."

"Comes with being civilized!" Briank smiled and shrugged.

As they neared the vessel, something caught Little Foot's eye. "What are those markings?" he asked.

"THOSE represent the call sign for the Enterprise." Briank said in explanation. "VHK-937! Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" He smiled.

"Sure... What about that circle with all the lines going across it?" Little Foot asked.

"That's the symbol for the United Federation of Spacefaring Species!" Yolanda said in explanation.

"Oh... Makes sense!" Little Foot nodded.

"Here we are!" Briank announced as he maneuvered the shuttlepod into the Enterprise's shuttle bay.

A few minutes later, after the bay was repressurized, the rear hatch and ramp was opened and everybody climbed out. Briank and Yolanda made sure they put on their rank shirt before they stepped out, not wanting to appear "out of uniform" in front of Kark.

Mr. Kark was standing there with his hands behind his back waiting for them. While this was a familiar site to the rainbow faces, Little Foot and his gang all stood in wide mouthed awe at the strange being the likes of which they've never seen before standing before them. Only Chomper smiled slowly when he noticed the physical characteristics of a sharptooth in Mr. Kark.

Briank made introductions all around to his commanding officer. Then Kark approached the young dinos. They all looked up at him with a mixture of awe and fear as he towered over them.

"Greetings, young ones!" He said in his softest voice as he bowed. "I am Kark. Second in command of this vessel, which is named the U.I.S.V. Enterprise, or 'United Inter Stellar Vessel', if you will. I am what is known as a 'Vulkadian', and my people belong to a race of beings called 'Draconians'. My home planet is called 'Vulkadia', and it is located thousands of light years from here...

"My race encountered the Rainbow Faces centuries ago. And together, we founded the United Federation of Spacefaring Species; which now had forty-seven member planets, and..." he hesitated as he seemed to ponder. "one hundred and thirteen member races."

"OOOOOHHH!" Little Foot and his gang all said in awe.

"Briank here wants me to give you a grand tour of the ship, of which I am compelled to oblige as a... personal favour... to the Lieutenant..." he said as he eyed Briank, who smiled weakly.

"If you will follow me, please..." Kark said as he began to show them around the shuttle bay, explaining as he went the purposes and functions of the various panels and consoles.

Then he brought them out through the automatic sliding doors and into the corridor as they headed towards other parts of the ship.

They encountered several other rainbow faces all wearing the coloured shirt of their rank, going about their business and assigned duties. Some carried notepads or tools as part of their responsibilities. A lot of them looked towards the odd group of dinos walking together and following their tour guide. A lot of them have never seen non civilized Saurians, except in pictures and movies, but never actual living ones; so they looked at them with great curiosity and interest.

"So, Mr. Kark..." Little Foot said at one point. "Mr. Rainbow Face says that you don't... 'have a life'???"

Kark raised an eyeridge as he turned towards Briank. "Actually, it was YOLANDA who's been saying that..." he said with a nervous grin.

"They only told you that because I do not... LIVE... my life like THEY do." Kark said in response. "But contrary to what... Mister and MISSES Rainbow Face believe, my off duty hours are FILLED with activity! Although private meditation takes up a big part of my free time- as such is the case with MOST of my people- I also like to read, I have a Vulkadian harp with which I play music on, I have mastered the game of three dimensional chess; and I have developed a fondness for the rainbow face game of billiards, or 'pool', as it more commonly known, of which I have become most proficient at."

Briank chuckled. "That's true! I haven't beaten you at it yet, but I will! Speaking of which, mind a quick game or two?"

"Of course, Lieutenant... once we have completed this tour..."

Kark showed them the engineering section first, where the Ultra Light Speed engine was located, as well as the thruster engines that they use for sub light travel. Kark tried to explain in simple terms the lithium matrix used to power the engines, which ran on lithium crystals. Most of the dinos didn't quite understand the principals of it, and they had many questions about a lot of things in engineering. Briank saved Kark by giving the example of how tree stars and grubs give energy to flattooths and sharptooth whenever they ate, and that this same principal applies to the lithium matrix that powered the engines of the ship. All of the young dinos "AAAAHHH"ed as they finally got the principal. Kark took the hint, and explained everything else in relevant terms the young dinos could understand.

A short time later, the sliding doors to the Medical Bay opened up as Kark led his tour group inside. "And this the Medical Bay, where we treat our sick and injured..." Kark would say.

"Hello, what's this?" the Chief Medical Officer on duty asked as he saw the group standing there.

"And this is Doctor Lenek McLelland, our Chief Medical Officer... and our Head Nurse, Kristina Chaplin..." he said as he saw the female rainbow face wearing the light blue shirt of rank.

"Hello, everyone." she said with a smile.

"HI!" said most of Little Foot's gang.

"Would somebody mind telling me what's going on!?" Doctor McLelland blurted out.

"Doctor!" Nurse Chaplin said, getting his attention. "This is the group of young Saurians Kark told us about earlier..."

Doctor McLelland's face lit up as the lightbulb went off inside his head. "Ah, YEEESSS! NOW I remember!"

"Please forgive him, he's absent minded sometimes..." Nurse Chaplin said as she shook her head.

"Shut up!" Doctor McLelland scorned. Then he smiled at Little Foot's gang. "Anyway, welcome to my office, children! Here, you'll find everything you need to keep you healthy and strong..."

"I don't doubt THAT, Mr. Doctor!" Little Foot commented with a small laugh. "You seem pretty well prepared to take care of anyone who's sick."

"Indeed I am!" Dr. McLelland smiled. "Our knowledge of medicine is quite advanced!"

Then he approached Kark. "Uhh... Kark, I uuuhhh... Was wondering if you'd allow me to scan these young dinos... I mean... I've never had a chance to examine Saurians so young before! Especially the sharptooth... "

"I do not foresee any problems in that area, Doctor. Proceed!" Kark said as he gestured towards Little Foot's gang.

"Uhh... With your permission, kids, I'd like to run some tests on you. To make sure you're healthy, and everything..."

"What sort of tests?" Little Foot asked.

"Just a simple physical. That's all!" Dr. McLelland smiled. "I'd like to start with the young sharptooth there..."

"Me?" Chomper asked, pointing to himself.

Dr. McLelland smiled and nodded. "Yes!"

"W... what do I have to do?" Chomper asked.

"Just climb up here on the biobed, and let me do the rest..." Dr. McLelland said.

Chomper did as he was asked. As soon as he sat down on the biobed, a panel on the wall lit up showing different readings, and a rhythmic thumping noise could be heard.

"What's that?" Chomper asked.

"THAT is the sound of your heartbeat, my young friend!" Dr. McLelland said as he grabbed his nearby medical tricorder.

"COOL!" Chomper smiled.

Dr. McLelland continued smiling as he approached Chomper with his medical tricorder.

"Will it hurt!?" Chomper asked nervously as he saw the small cylindrical object Dr. McLelland had in his hand.

"You won't feel a thing!" Dr. McLelland said as he passed the small cylinder all up and down Chomper. It made a soft warbling noise as it gathered data and fed it into the medical tricorder Dr. McLelland was holding. Everyone saw how delighted he was at being given this rare opportunity to examine real non civilized Saurians.

* * *

A few minutes later, Dr. McLelland was examining Cera, who was the last to go through the physical exam. She never took her eyes off of the small cylinder as it was passed all over her while she was lying on the biobed.

He shut the small cylinder off after he had completed his scans. "Well, I'm proud to say that they're all perfectly healthy!" the Doctor announced with a smile.

"Humpf! I TOLD you so!" Cera said.

"Well, I'd rather rely on my instruments than on the word of my patients..." Dr. McLelland said.

"Whatever!" Cera blurted out as she climbed down off of the biobed.

He caught Kark just as they were moving out of the Medical Bay. "I just wanna thank you for giving me this opportunity..." He smiled.

"No problem, Doctor." Kark replied.

"I must say, I never expected you to do something like this... You sure it's not our rainbow face influence rubbing off on you?" Dr. McLelland teased.

Mr. Kark simply stared at him. "Really, Doctor!"

Dr. McLelland sighed and rolled his eyes. "Forget I ever asked..." he flatly said as he went about his business.

* * *

A short time later, the whole gang found themselves in one of the Recreation Rooms that were located all throughout the ship. Kark and Briank took up one of the two pool tables that happened to be free and shot an old fashioned game of eight ball.

Although Briank was able to sink some of his balls off of the break, it only took one missed shot for Kark to take over. He sank all of his balls, and pocketed the eight ball to win the game.

"I win again, Lieutenant!" Kark simply stated.

Briank pursed his lips. "Well, you must admit that I am getting better, though."

"Indeed you are, Lieutenant. Keep practicing, and you will quickly master this game..." Kark said.

Then he turned his attention to Little Foot and the others. "I must return to the Bridge. I am to go on duty shortly. Which is perfect timing, as I..."

"Actually, Kark!" Briank interrputed. "I'd like to take them to our quarters first. There are a few things I'd like to show them there."

"Very well, Lieutenant." Kark said as he put the cue stick back on it's wall rack. "If you will excuse me..." he bowed before walking out of the rec room.

"Bye, Kark!" Chomper and Little Foot called simultaneously.

"See you later!" Petrie called from his perch on Little Foot's head.

"Well, shall we?" Briank said as he gestured for everyone to follow him.

"That was GREAT! Watching Kark play that game, and all..." Chomper commented. "I'll bet I can play as good as he can!"

"Humpf! Don't count on it!" Cera said. "That game looks hard enough to play for someone who hasn't played it before!"

"It IS, believe me!" Briank commented as he passed through the sliding doors our into the corridor.

* * *

A few minutes later, Briank and Yolanda led them into their ship's quarters.

"Well, here we are! The place we call 'home' while we're on this ship!" Briank said as he gestured around the rooms.

"And over here, you can see his collection of historical tapes!" Yolanda smiled as she gestured towards the shelf containing a large bunch to square plastic tapes all neatly stacked and aligned.

"Wow! There sure are a lot of them!" Ruby commented.

Briank smiled and nodded. "And they're all accurately labelled and colour coded!"

"Do they contain everything that you've told us in your story?" Little Foot asked.

"Indeed they do!" Yolanda smiled.

"As a matter of fact..." Briank said as he moved towards the shelf and grabbed a few tapes from it. "I'd like to show you some of those things I've told you about."

He took down a series of tapes from the shelf. Then he noticed one that was labelled "Petrograd Massacre", and looked back nervously at the young dinos watching him in anticipation of what he was going to show them.

"What's wrong?" Yolanda asked in a concerned voice, sensing her mate's discomfort.

"Nothing..." Briank simply said as he put the tape with the pile he was gathering in his arms.

He showed the "Petrograd Massacre" tape to Yolanda, then eyed her as if to ask_ "Should I show them this?_" Yolanda eyed him back and nodded as if to say_ "Yes. I think you should._"

"Well! Now, if you'll all just gather around, please..." he motioned as he inserted a tape and pressed the appropriate button on the console to play it.

The young dinos saw images of The United League of Nations building in Metropolitania, as well as The Terran Trade Center and The Liberation Statue.

They also saw newsreel footage showing the construction, unveiling and dedication ceremonies for Mount Roontian and The Hoosier Dam, as well as other important landmarks of Terra from ages past, including The Effek Tower, the "Arche de la Victoire" in the capital city of Franciscia, and the archeological digs at The Great Pyramids of Alexandria and Memphisia, in Northwestern Afrikania.

Other things they've seen were scenes of daily life in rainbow face society, as well as home movies showing how the objects they've found were made. They were shown how golf clubs, golf balls and kitchen sinks were made, as well as a movie showing the United Laurentian States Mint depicting how gold coins were made.

Briank and Yolanda even had them sample some of ancient music they admire, including a live performance of a song called "Keep It Dark" by a group who simply called themselves "Creation". The lyrics spoke about a young male who saw and experienced something totally extraordinary, and talked about it, only to be told to not talk about it anymore, as nobody believed him. The gang identified with the lyrics of the song, but they thought it was funny that the group's singer introduced the song as their "story of the cosmos" to the cheering audience.

Then Briank showed them newsreel footage of The Petrograd Massacre. Little Foot and his gang saw the images of the non civilized Saurians protesting. They saw longnecks, spiketails, swimmers, and flyers of all kinds; even many kinds of sharptooth; gathered together and shouting in anger.

Then the images of violence began. They saw the Rainbow Face Army move in and shoot at everyone on sight! They saw the tanks fire their explosive shells at the larger flattooths, as well as tanks and machine guns taking out flyers who took to the sky.

Everyone of Little Foot's gang, except Cera, turned away once the carnage started. While everyone else looked away, Cera just couldn't keep her eyes off of the screen. Her eyes grew wide as she saw what was going on, almost as if she was too stunned to even look away.

"Me can't look no more!" Petrie said as he covered his eyes with his winged arms while facing away from the console viewscreen.

"I do not want to watch this terrible thing! No, no, NOOOO!" Ducky whimpered as she covered her eyes.

Briank paused the tape just as a soldier was reaching the newsperson's camera in an effort to stop the recording, causing Cera to blink.

"I'm sorry if all this upsets you. I really am!" Briank apologized. "But I felt it necessary to show you what turned out to be the pivotal moment in our people's history... and what caused us to leave Terra a short time afterwards."

"So was it because of The Wildlife Preserrrrr... whatever, that those flattooth and sharptooth were protesting?" Little Foot asked.

Yolanda nodded. "But like we've said before: We've come a LONG WAY since then!"

"That's right!" Briank continued. "But we've learned to look past differences in race, colour, creed, intelligence and social stature. We've learned to control our arrogance... and our desire to dominate others who are inferior to us. If anything, this was our ONE MISTAKE!" he exclaimed, tapping the viewscreen showing the paused image. "It was THIS that made us learn not to be so judgemental towards others who are not like us, who are not as intelligent and civilized as us. And it is important to us that we REMEMBER what happened on that day, eons ago, in order to prevent it from ever happening again! You young Saurians are a prime example that different races and different beings can coexist and be friends. THAT is what you've taught us; and for that, we are eternally grateful!" Briank smiled.

"And although we left your world thousands of years ago, we've found a NEW HOME on a distant planet far away. A planet similar to Terra in most ways..." Yolanda said.

"... And we have no intentions of ever claiming YOUR planet as ours again. YOUR planet is YOURS to do with as you please..." Briank completed.

After letting all this sink in, Little Foot slowly smiled and nodded to indicate he understood everything now. His companions did the same.

"Good!" Briank exclaimed. "I see now that you all understand... and THAT, my friends, is the entire truth..."

"Thanks for telling us the truth, Mr. Rainbowface." Little Foot said.

Briank smiled and nodded. "You're quite welcome! Of course, this truth is yours to do with as you please. Tell all of your friends and families about it, or keep it to yourselves. That is YOUR decision to make!"

Little Foot and his gang all nodded as one.

Briank smiles and got up off of his chair. "NOW, we are to go meet Kark on the Bridge..." He moved towards the automatic sliding doors leading to the outside corridor, but he froze as he thought of something. "OH! But before we do, there's ONE MORE THING I want to show you! I think you'll find this interesting!" he said as he moved towards the shelf again and grabbed another tape from it.

"Whatcha got there?" Chomper asked.

"This is a video log of our first ever mission to Terra." Briank answered.

"Not more of that... Peetro Grade Massacre stuff, I hope!" Cera said.

"No!" Yolanda said. "This is more of a mission of mercy..."

"Mission of mercy???" Little Foot asked.

Briank nodded. "You see, an earlier expedition to the surface came back with a report that some of the local Saurians of an area formally known as Prussalia became deathly ill with an unknown disease; and we were sent down there to investigate."

"We brought Dr. McLelland with us hoping he could identify the disease that was killing these poor Saurians..." Yolanda said.

"Needless to say, we were quite surprised with what we've found..." Briank said as he put the tape in the console and pressed the button to make it play.

On the smaller video screen, they saw the image of Briank, Yolanda, Dr. McLelland, Nurse Chaplin, and an unknown rainbow face filming them as they walked.

"The person handling the video recorder is Pavel Koralenko... Hopefully, you'll get to meet him later. He's now one of our ship's Navigators..." Briank commented.

"But back then, he was just an Ensign. The Enterprise was his first tour of duty in space on a starship." Yolanda continued.

"We brought him along in case any locals we ran into only spoke his native Prusselian..." Briank said.

"And as you can see, we were a lot younger and better looking back then..." Yolanda smiled.

Briank cleared his throat. "It was our first mission together! We didn't yet know each other that well, and were not yet mated..."

From the video screen, they could hear the high pitched whining sound of the tricorder the young Briank was handling.

"I'm getting some unusual readings up ahead, Yolanda!" Briank said.

She eyed his tricorder display screen, which showed the readings he's been getting. "What do you think it could be?" she asked.

"I have no idea!" Briank admitted. "What about you, Doc?"

"Well don't look at me!" Dr. McLelland shrugged. "I'm a Doctor, not a Surveyor!"

Briank pursed his lips. "Well... let's go see!" he announced as he led the group towards a cave located on the side of a rock wall.

"Although I was a low ranking officer, I was put in charge of this mission." the Briank that was showing the video told Little Foot and his friends.

On the screen, they could hear some frantic crying that caused the entire group to turn to their right. Pavel Koralenko turned the camera towards a pair of swimmer flattooths who were running up and waiving their arms in the air. They were crying out in a language none of them could understand... except young Pavel.

"Unbelievwable! They DO speak Prwussalian!" young Pavel was saying.

"You understand what they're saying?" Briank asked.

"Yes, sair! Every word!" Pavel announced. "They don't want us to go inswide the cave. They say it is DEATH to go in there!"

"Here..." Briank said as he reached for the camera. "Go talk to them."

Then the camera showed the image of Pavel Koralenko come into view. He put his hands up in front of him and spoke in his native Prusselian to the two swimmers. Briank guessed he was telling them that they weren't here to harm them, and that they were friends.

Pavel then asked them a question. The larger swimmer was the one to answer.

Then he turned to the group of rainbow faces standing behind him. "He says his name is Krishka, and his cwompanion's name if Oktor. Krishka is the lwocal leader of the Saurians."

"Ask him what's so dangerous about that cave!" Briank ordered.

Pavel nodded and complied. The swimmer gave a response.

"He says thwat they have had many of thweir kind die shortly after entering that cave. Thwey became seeck, and nwo amount of hwealing they tried was ablwe to help them... He says they hwave a few othwers who are wery ill, but they don't know what to do to hwelp them."

"Maybe 'I' could be of some assistance!"

Pavel explained to the leader that Dr. McLelland was a healer, and that if he examined the ill, maybe he could figure out what was wrong.

The leader nodded his head and indicated for them to follow.

The camera cut off momentarily and then came on again showing images of them approaching a group of flattooth of all kinds gathered around in a circle. Many stood back in fear while others looked on in curiosity at the approaching group of strange looking strangers. You could hear the leader explain to them all that the rainbow faces were here to help them, and to let the one he indicated as the healer examine the ill.

Everyone got out of the way to reveal a few flattooths lying on the ground, visibly weak. There were many unexplained welts all over their bodies.

Dr. McLelland was shown taking up his medical tricorder and running the tiny cylindrical scanner all over the ill flattooths' bodies. It wasn't long before he made a diagnosis. He even looked quite shocked when he examined his tricorder's readings!

"What is it, Boney?" Briank asked, calling the Doctor by his nickname.

"You're not gonna believe this, Briank! These Saurians are suffering from radiation poisoning! They've been exposed to radioactive materials!" he announced, worriedly eyeing Briank.

"What's... rrraydeeooo active mateereeals???" Little Foot asked.

"You'll see..." Briank said with a smile.

On screen, the camera cut off again and came back on to reveal a container full of vials materialize on the grass a few feet away. Dr. McLelland went in to pick up the container. When it materialized from the transporter beam, this frightened a lot of the gathered flattooth. Pavel reassured them that the transporter was not going to harm them, and to not be scared.

The Doctor set to work at loading up his hypospray with the vials and injecting them in the sick flattooths. "There! That should stabilize their condition." he accounced. "But we're gonna have to do a serious treatment on them to cure their burns!" indicating what he and Nurse Chaplin have to do.

Briank nodded. "Get to work!"

With that, the Doctor and the Nurse were showed holding up two identical strange looking devices that looked like square black boxes with a clear rod at the end of it, and a row of light or buttons on the top side. The clear knobs lit up as they both set to use it on the radiation burns of the flattooths lying on the ground.

Then Briank faced the camera now being held by Pavel. "Well, as you've just seen and heard, we've encountered some Saurians who've come down with an ancient form of radiation poisoning. The only question is: What could've caused it?" He gazed off in the distance. "We're sure to find the answer in that cave! But because it's too risky to go in there without protection, I'm going to order down some old fashioned radiation suits so that we can go inside that cave safely, and get to the bottom of this. Stardate 10096.3.14. Science Officer Riggs out!"

The camera image then went dark.

"What are raydeeation suits?" Little Foot asked.

Briank paused the recording and turned to face Little Foot. "They're specially designed protective gear. It make it safe for a rainbow face or a Saurian to enter an area where there are high levels of radiation..."

"... And 'radiation' is like an invisible fire that can burn your body and make you very sick..." Yolanda continued.

"And that's caused by the.... raydeeoactive materials?" Little Foot asks.

Briank nodded. "Yes. And you'll see what that looks like in this tape. Shall we continue?" he said as he pressed the button on the console to have the recording continue playing.

Then the camera showed images of the young Briank and Yolanda walking slowly down the cave wearing white radiation suits.

"Funny thing about those suits:" Briank told the kids. "Since we didn't have any REAL ones on board, the Quartermaster had to replicate some that were just our size! Thankfully, the Enterprise's computer banks had the design specifications on file..."

"And I remember they were QUITE itchy!" Yolanda said with a shudder.

On the tape, Briank had a tricorder scanner with him, and was taking readings. You could hear the high pitched whining sound it made as it was working.

"Whatever is the source of the radiation, we're getting closer..." Briank commented through the voice transmitter of his radiation suit.

"How much further?" Yolanda asked.

"... About two hundred meters ahead." Briank said after checking his tricorder readings. "Through that opening!" he pointed. "It opens up to a vast underground chamber..."

"Let's go see!" Yolanda said as she led the way.

"You still with us, Pavel?" Briank asked as he glanced back over his shoulder.

"Yes, sair." Ensign Koralenko said from behind the camera. He was obviously assigned to videotape the whole thing, and must be wearing a radiation suit himself.

When Yolanda arrived first at the mouth of the opening, and saw what was beyond, she gasped.

"What is it, Yolanda?" Briank asked when he noticed this.

"You're not going to believe this... Come take a look!" she mouthed.

When Briank arrived, he gasped in turn. "Great Beyond!"

"What ees eet!?" Pavel eagerly asked.

"Bring your camera over here, Pavel!" Briank ordered.

Pavel did as instructed. "By the Primal Egg, will you LWOOK at thees!!?" he said in astonishment as the camera showed images of what look like strange long tubes to Little Foot and his friends.

"Is that what I think it is, Briank!?" Yolanda asked.

Briank nodded. "Yes, Yolanda. It's an old stockpile of nuclear warheads!"

"Wait!" Little Foot cried.

"Yes?" Briank said as he paused the tape.

"Explain something to me: What are... newkeelaaar warheads? What were they used for?" Little Foot asked.

Yolanda was the one to answer. "Nuclear warheads, or 'weapons of mass desctruction', if you will, were designed to cause GIGANTIC explosions several miles wide!"

Briank nodded. "Yes! They were tested and refined for years in desert areas, in the oceans... and even underground! At one point, two very powerful countries, the United Laurentian States and The Union of Socialist Prusselian Republics, had amassed used stockpiles of these weapons as a sort of... intimidation tactic... towards the other..."

"Fortunately, though, none of them ever had to actually USE these weapons on the other..." Yolanda said.

"But the explosion itself was not the worst thing, it's the deadly radiation that gets released, and can spread for literally HUNDREDS of miles across the landscape!" Briank said.

Some in Little Foot's gang WOWed at this.

"But legend tells it that although the United Laurentian States dismantled their nulcear weapons, Prusselia simply dumped them in underground caves like this, and forgot about them." Yolanda.

"Leading to THIS!" Briank said as he pointed to the vidscreen. "Shall we continue?" he asked rhetorically as he pressed the button to resume play.

"A lot of the cylinders have corroded away, releasing the deadly radiation from the uranium that was inside!" The Yolanda on the tape said as she shook her head. "It's a MIRACLE that none of the warheads exploded!"

Briank nodded slowly. "You're right... If they did, it would've been a DISASTER unlike any our people have ever seen before..."

"Lwook at those seembols, sair!" Pavel said as he pointed with his camera. "Those bwelong to the old Common Union gwoverment of ancient Prussia!"

Indeed, a lot of the warheads had emblazoned on them the enblem of that ancient regime, which was basically two rainbow faces. One holding a stock of wheat in one outstretched hand and a sickle in the other, and the other holding a hammer and The Star of Prussia in both hands that were crossed over the chest. Though the colours were faded away, they could tell that they used to be red, based on the historical tapes they've seen.

"I heard that government had lots of these things?" Briank asked Pavel.

"Yes, sair! THOUSANDS of thaim!" Pavel said. "Bwut they were discarded shwortly after The Petrograd Massacre, accwording to the history taixts I've rwead..."

Briank sighed and nodded. "Well, we've got a lot of work to do... We're gonna have to seal this chamber off to prevent any more radiation from leaking. If I'm not mistaken, they used lead to contain the uranium radiation?" he asked Pavel.

"I belweive so, sair!" Pavel said.

Briank nodded. "Okay... We'll have to install a huge lead panel in front of this opening, and basically cause a cave in to seal it off forever, as the lead itself can also be poisonous..."

"What about the lwocals?" Pavel asked.

The camera showed Briank pursing his lips underneath his biohazard headgear. "We'll figure that out later! Come on, let's get out of here!"

Then the camera image went black again.

The next image that came on the screen was that of Dr. McLelland and Nurse Chaplin passing two identical triangular shaped devices they held on both of their hands over Briank and Yolanda.

"This was our decontamination process..." Briank said in explanation to Little Foot and his gang.

"Your turn, Pavel!" Dr. McLelland said once he was done with Briank. Pavel handed the camera over to Briank, and Briank filmed him being decontaminated.

Then Nurse Chaplin passed a medical tricorder over them all. "They're clean, Doctor!"

To which Dr. McLelland nodded his okay for them to remove their helmets.

"WHOO... Those swuits aren't real comfwortable!" Pavel commented.

"One of the perks of the job, Ensign!" Briank smiled.

Then Briank noticed a lot of curious locals gathered a short distance away, mumbling amongst themselves. What he would say next would determine his primary mission in Starfleet.

"Pavel... we can't let them know what's in there... which is why we have to tell them that that cave is filled with poisonous gas, or something. I don't care! Just don't tell them that it's a stockpile of nuclear warheads... And that they have to stay as far away from the cave as possible."

"You mean... You want me to... lwie to them, sair?"

Briank nodded. "Yes."

"But, sair..."

"Don't argue with me, Ensign! Carry out your orders!!"

Pavel sighed once, and then nodded. "Aye, sair..."

Just as Pavel was moving up to talk to the flattooth leader, the camera cut out.

Next came an image of a lead door materializing in front of the chamber opening inside the cave, then a team of engineers in radiation suits moved in to weld the door to the rock walls.

Then you could see Briank touch his built in communicator on his bio suit. "Perfect beam in, Sloan! You're a real wizard with that transporter!"

"You know I always am, Riggs!" Chief Engineer Sloan's voice could be heard, which sounded like he came from Britania, or maybe Scott's Land.

Then it showed the subsequent artificial cave in they provoked using a few precise phaser blasts. Little Foot and his friends recoiled when they saw the blasts bring the cave walls and roof down.

Then the image of Briank standing at the mouth of the cave, talking into his communicator. "Mission accomplished! Beam us up!"

When they dissapeared into the transporter beam, the camera was turned off. That was the last image they saw on the video console, as it went black.

After a few moments, Briank said "And that was how it all started. It was this incident that made me the 'cover up expert' of the truth. My superiors were quite proud of my 'efforts'... and for that, they made me a Lieutenant..."

"... And I went on a few other missions with him, and got my Lieutenant's shirt shortly thereafter." Yolanda said.

Little Foot's gang didn't quite know what to make of this revelation. Little Foot, however, felt a bit of sympathy for the male rainbow face. "D... do you have any regrets?" he tentatively asked.

Briank smiled briefly. "You mean about having to lie all this time?"

Little Foot nodded.

Briank nodded sadly. "Yes... 'Why?', you may ask? Well... because as a historian, I believe that people should learn the mistakes of the past in order to prevent them from happening again... Knowing one's past directs one's future... So what I did for all those years went against everything I've ever believed in."

"But if you didn't like what you were doing, why didn't you just tell someone about it instead of just going along with it!?" Cera asked rather forcefully.

"Because he didn't want to lose his rank, command and commission... and neither did I..." Yolanda said.

"But now, we both feel that the time has come to let the truth be known... and you young Saurians are to be the vessels for that truth; but you still have the choice." Briank said.

"You can either choose to tell about it to others, keep it to yourselves, or ignore it. Your destinies have been laid out before you, but the choice is still yours." Yolanda said.

Little Foot and his gang weighed on every word. Finally, they nodded, knowing full well that what they learned here today could orient the future for all flatooths... and even sharptooths all over.

Briank removed the record tape from the console and went to put it back on his shelf. "All right! NOW, before we take you home, we'd like to let you see our Bridge..." he said, turning back toward the young dinos.

"Come, children! Kark's expecting us." Yolanda said as she led them through the sliding doors that led out in the corridor. The sliding doors shut behind them once they left.

* * *

Minutes later, the sliding doors to the turbo lift opened to reveal Briank, Yolanda and the young dinos. Though the lift was rather small, they had managed to all squeeze in there to make the trip.

"Pretty practical, that 'turbo lift' of yours..." Ruby commented.

"Yeah... It remind me of time on Threehorn Peak!" Petrie said.

"It uses the same principal..." Briank smiled.

"Except that time, it wasn't as CRAMPED!" Cera complained as she stretched her limbs.

"Sorry. It was designed to only a few people the size of your average rainbow face at a time..." Yolanda said.

"Greetings again, children!" Kark said from his seat in the Captain's chair. Then he got up to join them. "Welcome to the Bridge! This is where the entire operations of the Enterprise are run... I expected you here earlier, Lieutenant." He said to Briank as he brought his hands to his back in typical Vulkadian fashion.

"Sorry, Kark, but we had a lot of stuff to show them..." Briank simply said.

"Excuse me." a male rainbow face said from their left. "Are these the young Saurians I've been hearin' about?"

"Indeed they are, Mr. Sloan!" Kark said.

The male rainbow face smiled. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you fine lads and lasses! I am Chief Engineer Michael Sloan, at your service!" He bowed. "My main job is ensurin' this ship is in fine working order."

"And there is no one better qualified than he to keep everything... 'ship shape', as he likes to say..."

"Why thank you, Mr. Kark!" Engineer Sloan beamed.

Kark raised an eyebrow. "You're welcome." Then he turned his attention to the young dinos. "In any case, feel free to look around, and ask any questions you'd like...".

"WHOAAAA!" Little Foot exclaimed. "Is that our planet!?" he asked as he saw the image on the main viewer.

"Indeed it is, young longneck!" Kark stated.

"How far up are we!?" Little Foot asked.

"We're roughly twenty five hundred kilometers above the surface of the planet." Lieutenant Chang said from his post.

"Lieutenant Chang, please magnify area 224 mark 7 by a factor of 50..." Kark ordered.

"Aye, sir." Chang said as he complied.

"What's that?" Chomper asked as he came forward.

"THAT is the area you know as 'The Great Valley'." Kark said.

"WOOOOW!" Chomper said in astonishment.

"It looks so different from up here!" Ruby said. "It doesn't even look like a valley!"

"Indeed!" Kark said, raising an eyeridge.

For the next half hour or so, all of the young dinos walked around learning about the various panels and consoles of the Bridge, as well as their functions. They were mesmerized by all of the sounds they heard; from the buzzes and hums of the various instruments, to the strange drones and beeps whenever a button or switch was pressed; and even the rhythmis beeping sound of the ship's space sonar.

There was a bit of funny incident that involved Chomper. He was sitting in Lieutenant Chang's lap while he was explaining the various controls of his tactical station to the young tyrannosaurus when Chomper reached and pressed a control on the console asking "What's THIS button do?"

You could hear the humming of the maneuvering engines and a slight pitch could be felt. "Don't touch anything, PLEASE!" Chang exclaimed as he switched off the control Chomper has pressed.

"Sorry." Chomper said with embarrasment.

At one point, Kark introduced the gang to Lieutenant Pavel Koralenko, who happened to be the Navigator on duty.

"Hey! We know you!" Little Foot exclaimed.

"You do?" Pavel asked in confusion.

"Yeah! You were in that video Briank here showed us from his collection of record tapes!" Cera stated.

"From that time you, Mr. And Mrs. Rainbow face went down to the planet and found that pile of... new-kee-lahr war heads..." Little Foot said with some effort.

The Prusselian Lieutenant glanced back at Briank. "You shwowed then thaht!?"

Briank nodded. "I did."

"Yes! You went with them to film the whole thing. You did! You did!" Ducky stated.

Spike, standing next to her, nodded and warbled with a smile.

Pavel smiled back modestly. "Well, thaht was a lwong time ago... I've accompleeshed much since then."

"And that's why you're now a Lieutenant, Pavel!" Yolanda happily said.

"Excuse me for interrupting..." Kark said from behind Pavel. "but the Captain is due back on duty in a half an hour. I think it best if you brought these young Saurians back down to the planet's surface."

Yolanda nodded. "All right. Come on, kids! It's time to go!!"

A few whines of protest erupted from the group as they reluctantly went to the turbo lift that was to take them back down to the shuttle bay.

"I shall accompany you." Kark said. "Mr. Chang, you have the con!"

"Aye, sir." Chang said.

"You sure there's going to be enough room in here for you, Mr. Kark?" Briank asked.

"I think so." Kark said as he squeezed in.

"OW! Watch my tail!!" Cera exclaimed.

"Sorry." Chomper was heard saying just before the sliding doors to the turbo lift closed, generating a few snorts of laughter from the Bridge personnel.

* * *

A few minutes later, everyone emerged through the sliding doors of the shuttle bay.

"Take the same shuttlepod you initially went down the surface with, Lieutenants; and I shall see you on the Bridge when you get back."

Both rainbow faces nodded.

As Kark began to walk away, Little Foot got his attention. "Hey! Uhhh... Thanks for everything, Mr. Kark."

Then Chomper ran up to hug him. "I'll never forget you!" he said.

Kark down and patted Chomper on the head. "Nor I you, young one!"

Chomper looked up at the big Draconian and smiled. Kark simply raised an eyeridge in response.

"And it's been... my pleasure." Kark then said to Little Foot, who smiled.

Both rainbow faces looked at each other and smiled.

Then everyone got aboard the shuttlepod. Kark just stood there with his hands behind his back, watching them all dissapear inside. He turned away when the hatchway closed up. He had to exit before the shuttle bay depressurized and the shuttlepod left.


	9. Going Home

**CHAPTER 8**

**GOING HOME**

The shuttlepod landed in the wooded area not far from Mount Roontian. Mr. Kark had instructed Briank to land in the same area they came down in the first time, as it was pretty isolated, and they didn't want to risk being seen by other Saurians in The Great Valley or The Mysterious Beyond.

Inside the shuttlepod, the cockpit's sliding doors opened up as Briank and Yolanda walked into the lounge area of the craft where Little Foot and his gang were waiting.

"Well, kids! Here we are!! Back on Terra!!" Briank announced. "We'll now just step outside and see you off."

"However, we must confiscate all of the items you've found... We can't risk other Saurians being curious about them. Besides, you really have no need for them." Yolanda said.

A few whines of dissapointment were heard from the young dinos.

"But it is such a pretty shiny flat rock! It is! It IS!" Ducky cried.

"Give it up, Ducky! It's of no use to you, ANYWAY!" Cera said.

With a heavy sigh, Ducky handed the gold coin to Yolanda.

"...And neither is this hollow grey tube thingee..." Cera said as she handed the fawcet head to Briank.

"The golf club and balls, too..." Yolanda said to Chomper, extending her hand to him.

"Aaawww! Do I have to!?" Chomper asked as he held both objects close to himself. "It's such a fun game to play!"

Spike nodded and warbled his agreement.

"I'm afraid so..." Yolanda said sadly.

A heavy whine was heard from Spike as Yolanda took the objects from Chomper. Chomper himself look real sad at giving up the things he had come to cherish as his.

"Actually, dear..." Briank intervened. "I think we can make an exception, in this case..."

After eyeing her mate for a moment, she smiled, nodded and handed the objects back to Chomper. "Oh, thank you, Mrs. Rainbow Face! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!" he cried in joy.

Spike showed his gratitude by reaching up and licking Yolanda on the cheek. "You're quite welcome!" she giggled.

"Now that that's settled, if you'll follow us, please..." Briank said as he led them outside.

"You young Saurians remember your way back to The Great Valley, don't you?" Yolanda asked.

"Yes..." Little Foot said. "Except it's getting late! The bright circle's already low in the sky. We'll NEVER get home before dark!"

"Hmmm..." Briank thought. "Maybe we can be of some help in this matter." He brought out his communicator and opened it.

"Computer?" he said into it.

"Computer ready..." came the flat robotic voice.

"Transport nine over to coordinates 114 mark three six..." he ordered.

"Acknowledged. Stand by for transport..." the flat robotic voice said from the communicator.

"Don't move..." he said as he closed the communicator and put it back on his belt.

"What's gonna happen?" Little Foot asked.

"You'll see!" Yolanda smiled.

Moments later, everyone shimmered as they were caught by the transporter beam. "WHAT THE???..." Cera was heard exclaiming just before they dissapeared.

* * *

The next thing they knew, they rematerialized on the other side of what was left of The Hoosier Dam. They looked around once they've rematerialized and were quite astounded to find themselves suddenly back in this place.

"WOW! That was neat!!" Chomper exclaimed.

"COOL!!" Petrie exclaimed in turn.

"So THAT'S how you got back from Threehorn Peak so fast... and went back up to your Stone of Cold Fire!" Little Foot said as he put two and two together.

Both rainbow faces smiled and nodded at the same time. "Probably our most extraordinary feat of technology ever since sliced bread!" Yolanda joked.

Everyone laughed heartily at this.

Then sounds of roaring in front of them brought their laughter to an end. What they saw frightened all of them.

"OH, NO! IT'S RED CLAW AND HIS FAST BITERS!!" Chomper exclaimed.

Indeed, it was the big tyrannosaurus Red Claw and his two velociraptor henchmales Screech and Thud standing roughly 20 feet away from them and snarling.

"OH, NOOO!" Petrie exclaimed as he hid behind Little Foot and shivered in fear.

"Stay here, kids!" Briank began.

"We'll handle this!" Yolanda completed as they both stepped forward to put themselves between the sharptooth and the young flattooth.

Screech and Thud charged the two rainbow faces. Little Foot saw them pull out each their own oddly shaped device from their belts. They both pressed a button on the devices and aimed them at the two fast biters. All were surprised as the devices let loose a high pitched screeching sound as a green beam of light came from each of the devices and hit both fast biters, falling them to the ground instantly.

Seeing this, Red Claw was quite astonished; but he wasn't gonna back down. He roared and charged the two rainbow faces himself. They both fired their strange devices again. Again the high pitched screeching sound was heard as the same two beams of light came out and struck Red Claw. He made a face as he went down unconscious right next to Screech and Thud's still forms.

Then they turned to face the young dinos, who all had surprised looks on their facial features.

"It's okay, kids!" Briank began.

"You're safe now!" Yolanda completed.

They all remained silent for a few moments longer.

"What... was... THAT!!?" Cera asked as she finally regained her voice.

Briank smiled. "We call them 'phaser pistols'. They're quite practical, really!" he said as he showed his to the young dinos.

"It's probably our SECOND most extraordinary feat in technology ever since sliced bread!" Yolanda said with a bit of humour.

"Humpf! Fascinating!" Cera said as she examined the one Briank was holding. "We could SURE use a thing like that next time we face a sharptooth!"

"And it can be set to stun or to kill..." Briank said.

"We had ours set on stun against those sharptooth..." Yolanda said.

"They'll be out for a while yet, and you'll be long gone by the time they regain consciousness." Briank said.

"And now..." Briank said as he put his phaser pistol away. "We must part company. We are due back on the Enterprise, and you must go home..."

"Mr. Rainbow Face?" Little Foot said as he approached. "Thanks again... for everything!"

Briank smiled down to the young longneck. "Our pleasure, Little Foot!"

Little Foot smiled back, then hesitated before he finally decided to give the male rainbow face a hug. Everybody else gathered around the rainbow faces and Little Foot for a group hug.

"We'll miss you guys!" Chomper sadly said.

"Us, too!" Yolanda said as she stroked the smiling young sharptooth's cheek. "And remember: never cease to wonder... and imagine... what you may find 'Beyond The Mysterious Beyond'." she then said to all of them.

Eventually, the group would separate. Briank brought out his communicator and opened it. "Computer?"

"Computer..." the female robotic voice could be heard.

"Transport two to the shuttlepod..." he ordered.

"Acknowledged..." the robotic voice said.

He then closed the communicator and put it away again.

Both rainbow faces smiled and waved as they started to shimmer out of view.

"GOODBYE!" all of Little Foot's gang cried as they waved themselves at the dissolving rainbow faces.

Once they've dissapeared, the entire gang sadly headed back toward The Great Valley.

A few minutes later, the shuttlepod's engine could be heard approaching. Everyone looked up and saw the silvery blue glow of the craft and the light trail it left in it's wake as it flew by. Then it made extraordinarily sharp turns in the sky as it moved out into orbit. It literally looked like the Stone Of Cold Fire Little Foot saw those few seasons ago, only this one was moving and maneuvering at odd angles.

"Show off!" Cera humpfed.

* * *

It was starting to get dark by the time they arrived in The Great Valley. They saw all the adults were gathered around Little Foot's nest that he shared with his grandparents. Since The Secret Caverns were on their route back, Chomper and Ruby had stopped off there to retire for the night to leave the rest of the gang to head back to where the adults were gathered.

"Little Foot!" Grandpa longneck exclaimed when he saw his grandson approach. "We haven't seen you all day. We were getting worried! Where were you?" he asked as he leaned down to face Little Foot.

"Oh... We were playing Hide And Seek in the hiding grass..." Little Foot answered.

"All day???" Grandpa longneck asked in astonishment.

"Yeah! It FUUN playing Hide And Go Seek THERE!" Petrie said.

"Well..." Mr. Threehorn spoke up. "Come on, Cera! Let's go home. It's getting late, and you must be hungry."

"Not really, daddy." Cera said. "We've been munching on greens pretty much all day."

"Oh?" Mr. Threehorn eyed his daughter curiously.

Cera simply nodded.

"Yes! And Chomper ate some grubs and things! Yep, yep, YEP!" Ducky said.

"Well, anyway! Let's go, Cera!" Mr. Threehorn said as he led his daughter back to their family nest they shared with Tria and Tricia.

"Well, Petrie! It's time to go home! You had us worried sick!!" Petrie mother said as they flew off.

"Yes, mummy!" Petrie was heard saying.

"Come on, Ducky! Spike! Time for bed!" Ducky's mother said as she led them back to their own nest.

"Well, Little Foot!" Grandpa longneck began. "You must be very tired after a long day of playing in the hiding grass..."

"You're right, grampa! I am!" he said as he let loose a yawn.

"You sure you're not hungry?" Grandma longneck asked.

"Actually, I AM kinda thirsty..." Little Foot admitted.

"All right, dear! I'll be right back!" she said as she marched off towards the nearby river.

As he and grandpa longneck began to settle down for the night, grandma longneck returned with a tree star filled with water. "There you go!" she said as she get it down before Little Foot.

"Thanks, grandma!" he said as he took a draught from it.

"Grandma? Grandpa?" Little Foot said to get their attention after he had finished drinking.

"Yes, Little Foot?" Grandpa longneck asked gazing back at his grandson.

"I've been thinking... You remember those rainbow faces we encountered a few seasons ago?..."

* * *

Meanwhile, back on the U.I.S.V. Enterprise, Briank and Yolanda were on the Bridge, chatting with Mr. Kark, who was still sitting in the Captain's chair. They were recapping the day's events when the slidings doors of the turbo lift opened to reveal Captain Kirkland. He was holding a cup of coffee in his hand, and he looked a little groggy still as he came up to assume his place in the Captain's chair, which Mr. Kark relinquished to him immediately.

"Well... Anything interesting happened while I was off duty and dead to the world?" he asked his First Officer.

"N... nothing worth reporting, Captain." he answered as he crossed his hands behind his back.

Captain Kirkland smiled and nodded. "Lieutenants!" he said, turning his attention to Briank and Yolanda. "You were down there an awful long time. What took you so long?"

Yolanda spoke up. "They needed a lot of convincing before they decided that everything they've seen and found was completely natural."

"Y... yes! That's right, Captain!" Briank chimed in.

Kirkland smiled. "Good! I'm anxious to see your report!"

"You'll have it in the morning, Captain!" Briank announced.

"I look forward to reading it!" Kirkland smiled again. "In the meantime, I've received a communication from Starfleet Headquarters. We're being recalled! We're to head back to Terra Beta for our scheduled maintenance, and some much needed shore leave. The U.I.S.V. Excalibur is due to arrive shortly to pick up where we'll leave off. I'll make the announcement to the crew!"

Both Briank and Yolanda smiled at each other. "It's going to feel good to go back home after all this time!" Yolanda told the Captain.

Kirkland smiled. "That's all! Dismissed!"

Both bowed as they headed to the turbo lift which will take them to their quarters.

As Kark made his way to his science station, Dr. McLelland- who happened to be on the Bridge giving a young Ensign treatment for a small headache- approached him. "I thought your race was incapable of lying!" he told Kark.

"We ARE incapable of lying, Doctor." Kark stated matter-of-factly.

"Really?" the Doctor said in disbelief. "Then how come you lied to the Captain JUST NOW!?" he whispered harshly.

"I did not so much 'lie' as 'omitted certain facts', Doctor."

Dr. McLelland was dumbfounded. Finally, he shook his head and just walked away to take the turbo lift back down to the Medical Bay.

Meanwhile, Captain Kirkland made a shipwide announcement to the crew concerning their recent recall.

"Take us out of orbit, Mr. Chang; and ahead Ultra Light Speed factor 4!" Kirkland ordered.

"Aye, sir!" Mr. Chang replied as he pressed a few buttons on his console. You could hear the hum of the maneuvering engines kick in as the Enterprise broke orbit to head out into deep space.

* * *

"It's been a most productive day, hasn't it, dear?" Yolanda asked as they entered into their quarters.

"Indeed it has, darling!" Briank smiled and answered.

"Before we call it a night, though, I'd like to hear that 'Song of truth' you love so much!" Yolanda smiled.

"AH, YES! I know which song you're referring to!" Briank said as he moved to grab the tape off of the shelf and place it in the slot of the desk console.

The song in question was by an ancient rainbow face group from Britania called "Meekal and The Musical Mechanics" titled "Word Of Mouth".

Briank came up behind his mate and embraced her as the soft rock beat of the song began, kissing her cheek in the process as a show of affection.

Briank sang the lyrics of the song in Yolanda's earhole in time with the male singer on the tape:

Now the world is getting older

There's a few things to be said

Do you believe the things they've told you

Do you believe the things you've read

There's a rumour on the corner

But it's always been denied

'Cause they don't want you any wiser

You're just towing the party line

From the West side to the East side

From the North side to the South

You'll never get fact information

If you believe in the word of mouth

Look out for those who still want to hang on

Look out for those who live in the past

Get out and listen to the whispers

Because the times are changing fast

From the West side to the East side

From the North side to the South....

* * *

The next day, in The Great Valley, Chomper was seen building a small mound of dirt. He placed one of the white golf balls on top of it and grabbed the driver. "Ready, Spike!?" he called to the big spiketail.

Spike warbled and nodded with enthusiasm.

Chomper swung the club back and let loose a powerful drive that sent the gold ball flying a long ways away. Spike cried in joy as he ran off after the ball.

Little Foot and his gang all laughed with joy as they then got into an improvised game of tag while Chomper cried and danced around holding the driver up in the air. It would be another fun filled day in The Great Valley, where the bright circle was shining down it's warm rays, and not a cloud in the sky could be seen for miles around!


End file.
